We Cannot Be
by AriMalfoy1
Summary: Aurelia Avery and Sirius Black should never be together, not after he walked out on his family, not after he left her and her best friend, Regulus. So when circumstances bring them together, will they ignore their feelings and pull apart? SBOC - set in Marauder era with the occasional bit of JPLE.
1. Chapter One: Memories

**We Cannot Be**

 **Chapter One: Memories**

"Go on, Harry! Ask him!" Hermione urged Harry while Ron nodded fervently in agreement. The trio were huddled just beyond the doorway of the living room at The Burrow, where Remus Lupin was engaged in light conversation with Molly and Ginny Weasley.

Harry flapped his hands about as if that could convey the difficulty of what he wanted Remus to tell them, but Hermione just gave him that very Hermione-like look and said, "Sirius left it to _you_ , Harry. You should be the one to ask Remus."

"Hermione," Harry begged, "please, you would be so much more tactful than me-"

"What are you three whispering about?" Mrs Weasley demanded, causing the trio to jump about a foot in the air and emerge, shamefacedly into the living room.

"I uh-" Harry started awkwardly, taking a seat next to Ginny as Hermione and Ron did the same, "-well I, uh…"

"Is something troubling you, Harry?" Remus enquired, his light smile falling into a worried frown.

"Well yes…sort of…" he looked to Hermione for support, she nodded at him determinedly and he took a deep breath, summoning his courage to carry on. "It's just Sirius, he left me this." Harry extended his open palm to Remus, exposing a very delicate platinum ring, embossed with tiny white diamonds. He then took a note from his pocket and passed it to Remus, who took it and read it cautiously.

"What does it say?" Ginny questioned impatiently, as her ex-professor stared at the beautiful ring in Harry's hand.

"You can read it aloud if you want," Harry suggested to Remus, breaking him from his trance.

Remus nodded slowly and cleared his throat.

 _"_ _Harry,_

 _I want you to give this ring to the person that you love most dearly in this world. If you are reading this note then I have no use for it anymore, and you will be able to use it better than I did. It is a beautiful ring for a beautiful woman, make sure she knows it._

 _Sirius."_

"Oh," was all Ginny managed, falling into the same trance as Remus and staring unblinkingly at the ring.

When it became clear that Harry wasn't going to say anything more, Hermione coughed tentatively and addressed Remus.

"We were wondering, um-well-what use did Sirius have for that ring? It's not as though he was ever married…was he?" She finished uncertainly.

Remus considered the people before him for a while, evidently trying to decide whether he should divulge whatever story came with that ring.

"I'm not sure whether it's really my place to say," he decided eventually, "if Sirius wanted you all to know, he would have told you."

Harry couldn't help but sigh at his old teacher, he always had to be so diplomatic. "But he left me the ring didn't he? Is that not permission enough to tell us what it's all about?"

"Go on, Remus. Just tell them about her," Molly pushed. She could see how hopeful Harry was for some more insight into his godfather's life before prison.

Remus sighed heavily, the apparent weight of the decision pushing against his chest. "Alright, alright. I will tell you, but I warn you that this story does not have a happy ending. Sirius, it seems, was doomed to live a half life."

Harry swallowed hard, trying to prevent the tears that had welled up in his eyes from falling; he nodded his understanding to Remus who took the ring and rolled it over in his fingers a few times before continuing.

"This is the ring that Sirius was going to give to his bride on their wedding day, many, many years ago." The room was still, the tension palpable as Remus explained further. "She was the love of his life, he would have gone to hell and back to make her happy…" he tailed off as his words had become so thick with emotion that he couldn't continue.

"What was her name?" Harry breathed.

"Aurelia Avery," Molly answered, sensing that Remus was not quite ready.

"Avery?" Harry asked harshly. "As in _the_ Averys?"

Remus bowed his head in agreement. "Yes, Harry, the very same Averys that you have had the displeasure of meeting in the Department of Mysteries. But before you jump to any conclusions, allow me to explain – I think it's best that we start at the beginning…"

* * *

Sirius watched in amusement as a large, golden haired dog was growling at Lewis Mulciber, a seventh year Slytherin that had set his sights on his owner.

"Stop that right now! Bad dog!" Mrs Avery scolded, making to whack the animal across the head but before she had managed to make contact it whined and shrank back behind the woman's daughter.

Sirius watched Mulciber snarl in the direction of the dog as though it were some foul rodent and march from the school supply store, Mrs Avery following close behind, shrieking apologies.

"Good boy," Aurelia praised, patting her dog gratefully on the head. He wagged his tail happily but was soon distracted by a rather interesting scent and went bounding in the direction of the door, where Sirius was seated on a bench with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, waiting for Remus to finish examining different sets of quills.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh as the dog leaped up and tried desperately to lick his face.

"Sammy?" Aurelia called, rushing around a bookcase in the direction that Sammy the golden retriever had fled.

"Sammy!" She called again, only this time with a tone of irritation as she pulled him off of the person he was attacking with his affection and glaring at him. "I told you to behave, didn't I?" She scolded. "Mother will make me put you on the lead, and you know how much you hate the lead!"

The dog whimpered in agreement, and decided to settle for simply resting his head on Sirius' knee. Aurelia sighed exasperatedly and, with an apologetic wave at the person Sammy had attached himself to, pulled on his collar to encourage him to leave with her. The dog refused, his head still firmly lodged on the man's knee.

"Sammy! What on earth has gotten into you? Why have you attached yourself to-" Realising that she didn't actually know who the dog had attached itself to, her light blue eyes moved up to the man's face. She froze as she saw him, watching as the look of amusement changed to one of guilt and then, as she continued to stare, anger.

"Sammy," she whispered, breaking Sirius' gaze and looking down at her dog, "I think you're confused, this isn't Reggie," she could feel Sirius' glare on her face, "Come on, lets go."

The dog whined pitifully in response, nuzzling his head against Sirius' hand and staring at his owner in defiance. "Sammy please," Aurelia pleaded, tugging gently on his collar.

"Lia?" A voice called from the doorway. "Lia! There you are! Your mother is raising hell outside looking for you, you better come now before she-" Regulus Black stopped dead in his tracks as he became aware of who his best friend was looking at.

She turned to him with a desperate expression and tilted her head to the dog, "he won't move Reg, make him move?"

"Samuel. Get over here now!" The dog hunched, knowing that he was in trouble by the use of his full name, he slouched over to Regulus and placed a tentative lick on his hand. Regulus couldn't help but crack a smile at his dramatic antics, and ruffled the fur on his head affectionately, "stupid dog, you'd better listen to poor Aurelia or you'll get her in trouble, understand?" The dog barked once and wagged its tail.

"Not going to say hello, Brother?" Sirius drawled in a would-be nonchalant tone but Aurelia could hear the challenge behind his words.

"Why should he?" She cut in quickly as Regulus' face reddened with anger. Sirius' eyes moved to hers sharply, causing an unwanted chill to creep down her spine. "You were the one that left."

Sirius blinked and opened his mouth to respond but before he could, James had drawn his wand and was pointing it at the two Slytherins.

"And it was the best damn decision he'll ever make, disassociating himself with your kind."

"Our kind?" Regulus hissed. Aurelia knew it was dangerous territory when Regulus lowered his voice, and placed a hand on his arm calmingly. "Last time I checked, Potter, you are our kind too."

"You know what I mean," James snapped. Regulus cocked an eyebrow at him as his hand fingered the handle of his wand. It didn't need saying aloud, James was quite clearly implying their association with the 'dark' side.

"Come on Reg, lets just go," Aurelia said quietly, gently tugging on his arm as she had done previously with her dog's collar.

Sirius watched them leave with a foul taste in his mouth. He turned to his friends and noticed how irritated James looked, he couldn't help but smile slightly, it was nice that he cared enough to threaten his brother to back off. Peter, on realising the shift in tension, smirked wickedly and decided to impart some valuable wisdom to the pair, "Avery's a bitch but _Merlin_ is she fit!"

James looked at him like he must be mentally disturbed to find a Slytherin attractive but Sirius found himself cracking up and patted Peter on the back appreciatively.

"What?" Peter asked in response to James' incredulous stare. "She is! Cracking pair of tits, like."

* * *

James watched as his best friend stared over to the Slytherin House table at the welcoming feast. He couldn't work out what he was thinking but assumed it must be something to do with his brother as his eyes had been fixed in the other Black's direction for the past ten minutes.

"Don't worry about it mate, you're better off without him."

Sirius tilted his head in James' direction, acknowledging that he'd heard him, but didn't move his eyes away from the Slytherins.

"Do you miss him?" James asked quietly, following his line of vision to where Regulus was laughing as he held a plate of pancakes slightly too far out of reach of an impatient Aurelia.

"It doesn't matter," Sirius grumbled eventually. Allowing himself to return to the memory he had been enjoying.

 _Sirius crept towards a little end table in the formal dining room at his home in Grimmauld Place. He could hear the quiet giggles of the young girl that was hiding from his brother as they played hide and seek._

 _"_ _You're not very subtle," he whispered as he lifted up the tablecloth and squeezed under the table with her, his back pressed up against the wall._

 _Aurelia stuck her tongue out playfully. "You wouldn't have known I was here if you hadn't heard me laughing," she pointed out._

 _He shook his head and laughed silently, pulling her closer to him and therefore farther from the edge of the table. "I could see your socks poking out."_

 _"_ _Oh," she giggled, pressing her mouth into his shoulder as they heard Regulus run past the dining room and further into the house. "Will you hide me? Reggie says I'll have to help the elves in the kitchen if he finds me in the first five minutes!"_

 _Sirius grinned and wound his arm around her protectively, titling her head further into his chest as her giggles returned with the soft padding of his brother's footsteps._

 _"_ _Stick with me, kid, I'll keep you safe." Aurelia grinned and nuzzled her nose into his neck affectionately._

It was stupid, he knew it was stupid. Sirius Black: the blood traitor should not be clinging onto memories of the games he used to play with Aurelia Avery when they were little. Yet try as he might, he just wasn't ready to forget. Some part of Aurelia still had a distinct hold on him, he was just glad that she didn't know it.

"This is going to be a long year." He sighed heavily, but forced himself to look away and grabbed a muffin, taking a gigantic bite from it in an attempt to cheer up.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello lovely readers! If you've got to this point then thank you so much for completing the first chapter. Please follow/favourite and review, I'd love to know whether you think this story is worth continuing!**


	2. Chapter Two: Clashes

**A/N: Thanks sooo much to my very first reviewer Tingting26021996, I'm glad you liked the first chapter - hopefully you'll like this one too! Thanks as well to my new followers.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Clashes**

Regulus and Aurelia were sitting cross-legged on a field next to the lake at Hogwarts, staring with an intense determination at each other in an attempt to psyche the other one out as they battled at a game of exploding snap.

"You look very nice today, Lia," Regulus complimented, his eyes running over her thick chocolate brown hair as it caught the light and onto her dark crimson lips. "New lipstick?"

Aurelia grinned wickedly. "You've lost your touch, Reg. You can't distract me that easily!" Her eyes were trained on the pile of cards in between them, waiting for a match like a hawk waiting for a chance to swoop on its prey.

"I was just commenting!" he insisted, holding his hands up in surrender. "Ucgh look who's out with his merry men," he nodded in the direction of the castle, where Sirius and his friends were walking out in their Quidditch robes.

Aurelia glanced over to them and found herself noticing how much taller and broader Sirius had grown over the summer, there was such a commanding presence to him now. She blushed and looked back down just in time to see Regulus tap his wand on the pile and sneak the victory from her.

"You cheat!" She shouted, lunging across the cards and tackling Regulus down.

"What can I say, I'm an opportunist," he laughed, rolling over so that she was pinned under him, "and as an opportunist…" he lifted a hand high in the air, wiggling his fingers about threateningly.

"No Reg, don't! Don't do it! Please?"

"Uh uh uhh! You don't get to challenge my cunning and get away with it, my little Aurelia. Time to face the consequences of your actions!" He plunged his hand down to her stomach and started tickling ferociously, causing his captor to squeal and shout 'stop' in between fits of laughter. She was aware that Regulus had loosened his hold on her so she could wriggle free but stayed put to play along a little longer.

"Now Lia," Regulus said with a tone of mock-seriousness, he pinned her arms to her sides and hovered over her importantly, "I believe you have something that you'd like to say to me, do you not?"

Aurelia bit her lip to contain a delighted smile and shook her head slowly, her eyes gleaming with a playful mischievousness.

"No? Are you sure about that?" Regulus asked, dangling his hand above her again.

She giggled childishly but decided to give in and shouted, "You are the greatest wizard that ever lived! Please have mercy on me, noble one, for I am just a lamb and you are my shepherd. You must show me the way for I have no eyes and you are my light!" Regulus grinned as he mouthed the speech along with her for dramatic affect.

"See? All you had to do was ask!" He rolled over onto his back and the pair laughed heartily, not noticing how James Potter was looming over them.

"What do you think you're doing?" He snapped, glancing over in the direction of the lake where Lily Evans and her friends were watching the scene unfold.

Regulus got to his feet at a leisurely pace, pulling Aurelia up with him. "What's it to you, Potter?"

James puffed his chest out, wanting to impress Lily with his maturity. "You're setting a bad example for the younger years, rolling around on the floor like that with your whor-"

"I suggest you don't finish that sentence," Regulus snarled, his wand pressing almost touching James' chest.

Sirius leapt forward, his wand out and pointing at his brother. "Why don't you be a good boy and put that away before you get hurt, Regulus."

"Enough!" Aurelia barked, jumping between the Black brothers and pushing Sirius' wand arm down. She was now so close to him that he could see each of her thick eyelashes and smell her distinctive fragrance: a mix of amber, pear and quince.

"Leave him alone, Sirius," Aurelia whispered, "you've hurt him enough already."

Sirius' defensive disposition altered, a mixture of Aurelia's proximity and words making him light headed. It sent a pang of guilt through him as he noted the sadness in her eyes. "Peach-" he started quietly, resting a hand on her shoulder in a show of comfort.

"No," Aurelia snapped, flinching under his touch, "just leave it."

She felt a hand intertwine with her own but didn't move away, knowing that it was Regulus. "Come on," he muttered, pulling her away, "lets just go back inside."

"Bloody Slytherins," James spat as the two friends retreated back into the castle.

"Yeah, absolute bloody bastards the lot of them!" Peter piped up, earning himself an approving slap on the back from James.

"Let's get down to the pitch, shall we?" James grinned, pushing his hand through his hair and glancing again at Lily.

"Stop doing that," Remus muttered to James, "it annoys her."

James dropped his hand from his hair and glared at Remus, "and how do you know that?"

"Because we're _friends_ , Prongs."

James just huffed and carried on walking down to the Quidditch pitch, the other boys following close behind. After a few minutes of silence, Remus spoke up again.

"Why do you call her 'Peach'?" He looked curiously at Sirius, who merely shrugged and looked away.

"Who?"

"You know who," Remus said patiently, "Avery. You just called her 'peach', and I've heard you do it before, what's that all about?"

James and Peter stilled, both matching Remus' curious expression as they surveyed him.

"Stop looking at me like that," Sirius glowered, "its not some intimate name I have for her because we're secretly in love and can't tell anyone. Its just a stupid name I gave her when we were children."

The boys continued to stare at him expectantly and he sighed in irritation, knowing he would have to share the memory with them.

 _It was the last Halloween that Aurelia would spend with her friends at home before she started at Hogwarts the following year. However, as excited as she had been to play with her friends, she had spent the majority of the party hiding in the pantry, crying. A soft knock at the door made her jump and retreat further back, hoping the intruder wouldn't find her._

 _"_ _Lia?" Sirius called, "Lia I know you're in here, the elves told me you've been hiding."_

 _Aurelia scowled to herself, cursing the elves for being so free with her secret. She sniffed as another tear rolled down her face and tried hard not to pout as Sirius located her, his amusement plastered across his features._

 _"_ _Don't laugh!" she squealed. "It's not funny, Mother forced me!" Sirius nodded, attempting to suppress his smile and sat down in front of her._

 _"_ _Why did she make you wear this?" he questioned, pulling on her costume._

 _"_ _B-b-because she said that I've been flaunting myself at the boys, and that no one will want to marry me if they think that I'm loose so I should cover up." Sirius leant forward and brushed a few of her tears away, pitying the sad little girl before him. "So she made me wear this and now I'm ugly," she wailed, burying her face in her hands._

 _"_ _You're not ugly Lia, you couldn't be ugly if you tried," Sirius soothed, tilting her chin up so she had to look at him._

 _"_ _But I'm a giant peach!" she exclaimed hopelessly, her arms only just barely sticking out of her ginormous, pillowy peach costume._

 _"_ _A very pretty peach," Sirius corrected earnestly, unable to restrain the smile tugging at his lips, "and don't listen to your Mother, you'll have queues of boys wanting to marry you, you'll see."_

 _He seemed to have managed to calm her down, for her sobs had subsided into little sniffles and her tears had ceased. "Would you marry me?" she questioned softly, a tiny glimmer of hopefulness to her voice._

 _Sirius smiled, "of course, in an instant."_

 _The little girl beamed and allowed Sirius to help her to her feet. "Come on then Peach, lets go find Reg." She nodded and bounded ahead, though had to wait for Sirius to push her costume through the doorframe when it got stuck on a nail._

"Oh," Peter said disappointedly, "bit of a let down."

"Told you," Sirius shrugged, though he knew they might have been a bit more interested if he'd left in the part where he had told her he wanted to marry her.

Their Transfiguration lesson had been a difficult one that day, especially as Professor McGonagall had insisted on seating them alphabetically, so Aurelia had to share a desk with Sirius, who was very gifted in that class. She was glad then when the bell rang and everyone started to pack their things away, and planned to dart out of the classroom to avoid spending any more time with Sirius than absolutely necessary. Just as she was packing away her last inkwell, Severus Snape bumped into her from behind and it smashed all over the floor, causing its content to spill out in a sticky black puddle.

"Sorry," he mumbled distractedly.

"Don't worry," Aurelia said patiently, bending to clean up the mess. She halted when she saw Sirius' feet block Severus' path. Peeking over the table, she saw Sirius glaring at her housemate, his hand enclosed around the weaker boy's robes.

"Watch where you're going, Snivellous," Sirius growled, causing the rest of the students in the room to fall silent and watch the exchange with gleeful expressions; Severus Snape was not a popular boy.

"I apologised," Snape said evenly, fixing Sirius with a glare that would send most people running for the hills but Sirius stood his ground, apparently unphased.

"Hardly," Sirius barked, "maybe I should teach you some manners."

"Black, let go of him now!" Aurelia demanded, standing up and brushing off her robes angrily.

"Don't you want Snivelly to give you a proper apology?" he asked, his eyes not moving from Severus'; a few people in the classroom laughed cruelly and Aurelia noticed Lily Evans flinch, as though she wanted to help but decided against it.

"Don't pretend this has anything to do with me, you're just looking for a chance to belittle Severus again! Well it's not funny, so let him go."

"I don't need some pathetic harlot coming to my rescue, thank you Avery," Snape spat coldly.

Lily made the softest groaning noise at this, which made Aurelia remember the similar situation she had been in last year when she had stepped in to stop James bullying him and he'd called her a mudblood. Unlike Lily though, Aurelia wasn't much affected by Severus' choice of words, she simply rolled her eyes and sent a stinging hex at Sirius' hands, forcing him to release Snape.

"Oh come off it Sev, I'm not about to leave you in the hands of this coward."

Sirius shot her a black look and Aurelia shivered, not used to such looks falling upon her. "How dare you call me a coward?" He hissed, his voice becoming low and threatening just as Regulus' did when he was about to lash out.

Aurelia straightened up, hoping that she appeared much more casual than she felt, "Oh I'm sorry, are you going to cry about it?" she mocked, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and marching Severus towards the exit.

"Go and trim your cunt hairs Black, you're pathetic."

"MISS AVERY!" Professor McGonagall yelled as she returned to the classroom just in time to witness the end of Aurelia and Sirius' fight. "How dare you use such, such foul language in my classroom? Twenty points from Slytherin and detention Saturday evening in my office! I suggest you have a serious think about how you wish to conduct yourself-"

She was interrupted by Sirius' low chuckle and rounded on him, her eyes alight with fury. "You too, Mr Black. I have already spoken to you about your behaviour towards Mr Snape and yet you continue to disobey me. You shall join Miss Avery and me for detention: seven o'clock sharp, my office."

Sirius glared back at her the professor but from a warning glance from James, who was clearly annoyed that Sirius would now miss the first official Quidditch match of the season, he closed his mouth and nodded submissively.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the second chapter up, hope you enjoyed it! You'll probably find my posting habits quite sporadic as I've got about a million and one things on at the moment and so my priorities are shifting constantly buuuut I will try and update fairly regularly.**

 **What did you think? Please review and let me know!**


	3. Chapter Three: Split Fealties

**A/N: Thank you to Guest for reviewing and also to:**

 **\- Tingting26021996 - I never intended to do the flashbacks but they're actually quite effective, I might keep doing them for a bit.**

 **\- alfieHewie - you found my other story! Glad you like it :) And yes, I will still be finishing the other, don't worry!**

 **Welcome new followers/favouriters, hope you like it - let me know!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Split Fealties**

Sirius was leaning casually against the wall outside of his Transfiguration classroom, listening to his housemate Mary Macdonald chatter about the upcoming Hogsmede weekend at the end of September. Despite trying to pay attention and look interested, he couldn't help but get distracted when he saw his brother and Aurelia making their way down the hall.

"Reg, I'm slipping! Hold me higher!" Aurelia whined. Regulus grumbled at her request but hoisted her higher up his back anyway, he had lost a bet to Aurelia and had to pay the price by carrying her to each of her lessons for the rest of the week.

"Perhaps if you weren't such a lump you wouldn't keep slipping down!"

Aurelia pouted as she jumped off his back when they reached the classroom. "Hey! I'm not _that_ heavy!"

"Lia, you've had pancakes for breakfast every day this week, you _are_ that heavy," Regulus stated, straight faced.

"It was not every day," Aurelia protested, "I didn't have them on Wednesday!"

Regulus just laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek, "I'm just kidding, you're perfect. I'd better get to Potions though, see you later."

Sirius felt an odd sensation in his stomach at the gesture but trained his expression to remain neutral. Lewis Mulciber, who had never hidden his want for Aurelia, approached her with an ugly scowl.

"You shouldn't allow Black to kiss you like that, Aurelia. What would your cousin think?"

Aurelia tried not to look afraid at the mention of her cousin Robert Avery, who had graduated Hogwarts the previous year and had made no secret of the fact that he planned to join the Death Eaters one day very soon.

"Robert wouldn't think anything. Regulus and I have been friends for a very long time, there's nothing in it," she snapped.

Mulciber's eyes flashed dangerously at her tone, something that made her blood run cold. She swallowed, and placed a hand on his arm to hide her shaking fingers. "I'm sorry," she said, looking at him with the same big doe eyes that had got her what she wanted from her father her whole life, "I didn't mean to snap, it's just that Reg is my best friend, and I know that you and I could be-could be joined in the future," she faked a shy smile and blinked up at him innocently, "I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression," she finished in a whisper.

Sirius saw the revolting enjoyment in Mulciber's face at Aurelia's show of submission and felt an overwhelming urge to punch him; he had no doubt that Mulciber was just as involved with the Death Eaters as Robert Avery and his cousin Bellatrix, the thought of Aurelia spending her life with such a man made Sirius sick.

"Sirius?" Mary tapped her foot impatiently. "Have you even been listening?"

"Oh, uh, sorry Mary, I'm just a bit tired. What were you saying?"

The blonde sighed and muttered that it didn't matter before stalking off to take her seat in the classroom.

"What was that about Padfoot?" James asked incredulously. "Mary's hot!" Lily, who had been a foot or so away, waiting to enter the classroom behind the small queue that had formed, went red and for a fraction of a second actually looked a bit jealous.

Sirius' brow furrowed as he looked at James in utter confusion, "I thought you were into Evans?"

He noticed Lily's ears go red from behind and nodded to James, who grinned knowingly. "No, Mary was just trying to ask you out you idiot!"

"Was she?" Sirius looked over James' shoulder to get a view of Mary, it looked as though she'd made a special effort today, her hair was neatly curled and tied back with a red ribbon and it seemed as though she'd spelled her uniform to fit more tightly than normal.

"I'll talk to her later," Sirius announced with a wink, before taking his seat next to Aurelia in the classroom.

* * *

McGonagall spent the first twenty minutes explaining the theory behind transfiguring twigs into utensils and then set everybody to work. As always in the practical part of Transfiguration, the noise level in the classroom was rather high and Sirius, after successfully turning his first twig into a fish fork, decided it was safe to speak to Aurelia without being overheard.

"So," he started casually, noticing Aurelia tense at the sound of his voice, "you and Mulciber? Has that been going on long?"

"It's not going on at all," she said stiffly, poking at a twig and sighing when nothing happened. "At least not yet," she added quietly.

Sirius glanced at her, she was looking down at the desk and biting the inside of her cheek, signs he recognised from many years of observing her as fear and apprehension.

"Here," Sirius said, placing his hand over hers, which was holding her wand, and moved it in the correct movement to transfigure the twig; sure enough it promptly changed into a spoon and Sirius removed his hand quickly.

Aurelia smiled gratefully at him, "thanks."

He nodded once and gave her a half smile before returning to his next twig and changing it into a knife. After a few more minutes of silent working, he spoke again, "you don't have to marry him you know."

Her whole body froze apart from her hand, which shakily placed the twig she was holding back onto the table; she turned to him furiously, her teeth gritted as she replied, "yes I do."

Sirius frowned but didn't reply, instead allowing Aurelia to finish her work in peace as he thought about what she'd said. He wondered if she blamed him for having to marry Mulciber, perhaps she had taken him seriously when he'd said he would marry her when they were younger. It was all so stupid, pureblooded families would marry their children off almost as soon as they left Hogwarts, sometimes earlier if the family of the bride gave a high enough bid. The bride and groom rarely actually had a choice in it, and so many couples would wind up in unhealthy marriages where they cheated on one another relentlessly. It was extremely rare for pureblood couples to split no matter how unhappy they were and in an odd twisted way, they would then force the same fate upon their children. He knew that his mother had been fond of Aurelia and she probably had expected a union, but Sirius had never had any desire to do anything that his mother wanted.

He glanced over to where Mulciber was working with Mary and felt a fresh wave of nausea overcome him. Mulciber was staring greedily down her shirt; he licked his lips and whispered something in her ear, which made Mary jump and slap him hard in the face. Everyone looked around in shock, and McGonagall, who hadn't seen the incident but wasn't naïve enough to believe that Mulciber had nothing to do with it, gave them both detentions with Mr Filch that evening.

* * *

"Looked like Avery was giving you a hard time today mate," James said over dinner.

Sirius rolled his eyes in agreement and poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice. "Yeah she can be difficult when she wants to be."

"Seems to be getting on fine with your brother though," he mused, gesturing to the Slytherin table where Aurelia was resting her head against Regulus' shoulder and smiling as he whispered things to her.

"They're just friends," he said shortly. He stabbed his fork into a sausage with much more force than he had intended, earning himself a knowing glance from Remus – something that only served to irritate him further.

"I'm going to the common room," Sirius announced, abandoning his food and hurling his bag over his shoulder.

He didn't even wait for his friends to finish asking why he was suddenly in a bad mood before he had turned on his heel and marched from the Great Hall.

* * *

His mind didn't seem to want him to be in a good mood, for it decided to conjure up images of Aurelia and Mulciber on their wedding day, kissing; then it escalated and they were in their suite, Aurelia was undressing and Mulciber-

"Take your clothes off!" Sirius stopped in his tracks; he could have sworn that the actual Mulciber and not just the one in his imagination had just shouted the command from around the corner.

He walked cautiously round the corner and stopped, horrified by what he saw. Mulciber and a crowd of other Slytherins were laughing grotesquely at Mary as she started undressing herself for their entertainment.

He wondered what had gotten into her for a minute before he saw Mulciber's wand pointing at her and the glazed appearance to her eyes. Mulciber was using the Imperius Curse against her.

"OI!" He shouted, wand out and ready to fight, not once considering that he was vastly outnumbered by a large group of Slytherins who were all rumoured to be involved with the dark arts.

Mulciber grinned savagely at him. "Want to join our little show, Black?"

"Impedimenta!" Sirius' spell hit Mulciber squarely in his chest, sending him flying backwards and into a wall. The other Slytherins leaped into action instantly, sending spells flying in Sirius' direction.

Luckily, the duel was loud enough to attract the attention of several students and teachers and was quickly stopped before it got out of hand, no one was hurt seriously and a friend of Mary's rushed her away. Still, Sirius lay awake that night, picturing Aurelia forced into a marriage with Mulciber and all the horrific things that would likely come with it.

* * *

Aurelia arrived a few minutes late to detention on Saturday evening, earning herself a lecture from McGonagall on the importance of time keeping. She was then put to work polishing trophies and their cabinets while Sirius did the same from the other end of the room. They worked in silence, Professor McGonagall watching over them and making the occasional suggestion that they missed a spot.

"Right," she broke the silence after half an hour of polishing, "I have to go to the staff meeting now, so I shall be locking you two in here to finish your work. If it's not done by the time I return, I will set another date for you to come back and finish it. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am." They repeated in unison.

Professor McGonagall nodded and picked up their wands from her make-shift desk and pocketed them. Once the lock had clicked behind her, Sirius walked over to Aurelia, his arms folded across his chest. "Did you hear about what Mulciber did yesterday?"

Aurelia didn't look up, she just continued to polish and eventually said, "yes."

"And are you still planning on marrying him?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business," she replied coolly.

Sirius growled his annoyance, and moved her chin to force her to look at him. "Just answer the question," he said irritably.

"Fine," she snapped, "I am still going to marry him, yes."

Sirius didn't care to hide his revulsion at her answer and let go of her as if her body were aflame. He walked quickly back to his station and picked up his rag, roughly dragging it over the nearest trophy.

Aurelia bit her lip hard as she felt herself on the brink of crying; she glanced over her shoulder at Sirius and watched as he attacked a plaque. She turned back around and carried on working, humming absently in an effort to distract herself.

Sirius turned around and stared at Aurelia…she was humming a _muggle_ song. Where had she heard it? Did she even know it was written by a muggle?

"Why are you staring?"

Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, before composing himself and asking about the song.

"Oh, right," she blushed, "yeah I knew, I saw the poster in your room so I listened to it."

Sirius moved over to her again, so shocked that Aurelia: the devoted pureblood, had willingly associated with anything non-magical, that he completely forgot that he was angry with her.

"When did you go into my room?" he asked, a slight smile playing on his lips.

She blushed an even deeper pink and started fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "It was after you left," she whispered, "I just wanted to- I don't know." She did know. She had wanted to feel close to him again so she went into his room to look around but eventually had crawled into his bed and fallen asleep there until Regulus found her and carried her away.

She looked back up at Sirius uncertainly. He wasn't smiling anymore. His jaw was tense and his eyes were boring into her as though trying to read her mind.

"What did you think of it?"

It was an odd question, she didn't know whether to give the honest truth or pretend that she loved it. She decided for something in between. "It's very you. There were lots of pictures of uh-" she blushed again, "-women."

It was Sirius' turn to flush, however Aurelia saved him from too much embarrassment by continuing. "I thought that there might be some other photos and stuff."

He watched as her eyes started watering and felt his stomach lurch as he remembered the last time she had looked at him like that.

 _The extended Black family, their spouses, Aurelia and a few other family friends were gathered in the formal sitting room after a meal in Grimmauld Place to celebrate Regulus getting his Prefect badge._

 _"_ _I'm so very proud of you Regulus, darling," Walburga Black gushed, "aren't you proud, Orion?"_

 _Sirius' father was clearly trying not to roll his eyes as his wife forced him to confess his pride for the fifth time that evening._

 _"_ _Ten points to Slytherin," Sirius muttered darkly. Walburga's attention snapped to him, she was not a patient woman and Sirius' very presence had already been testing her nerves._

 _"_ _Shut your ungrateful little mouth, Sirius Orion Black!" She screamed, her face reddening until it had reached a most unhealthy beetroot colour._

 _Sirius glared at her but didn't say anything further. He pulled on his collar to loosen it, the heat and tension in the room making him feel like he would be suffocated at any given moment._

 _Bellatrix tutted loudly, grimacing maliciously at Sirius from the chair opposite. "You shouldn't be so bitter, little Gryffindor, just because your brother has now surpassed you in every way… Perhaps you should consider declaring Reggie as your heir, Uncle, have Sirius as the spare instead."_

 _Aurelia felt Sirius stiffen beside her and nudged him softly with her leg in a silent show of support. He offered her a tight smile but didn't relax, it looked as though he was having a battle of wills in his head._

 _"_ _I don't think you give Sirius enough credit Bella," Aurelia said diplomatically, "He's really very clever. You're almost always top of the class aren't you, Sirius?"_

 _Bellatrix's harsh cackle interrupted any response that Sirius might have made. "Still clinging onto the idea of my dear cousin, are you Aurelia? I wouldn't bother, Rabastan saw him with a filthy mudblood in Hogsmede last month."_

 _Walburga slammed her glass down. "WHAT?" she bellowed._

 _"_ _Nothing happened," Sirius insisted, though it was more to Aurelia than anyone else, "Mary's just a friend."_

 _"_ _I don't care if this girl is 'just a friend' or not," Walburga screeched, "I have told you time and again that you are not to consort with that filth! You will respect my wishes or you will leave this house!"_

 _"_ _FINE!" Sirius roared as he leapt to his feet. "I'LL LEAVE!"_

 _Silence. Nobody dared move or even breathe apart from Sirius, who had stormed out of the room and up the stairs, presumably to gather some things from his room. A few minutes later his footsteps grew louder again and something seemed to click in Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange, who both jumped to their feet in unison and burst out of the room with their wands drawn._

 _"_ _NO!" Aurelia screamed, running after them. She dove between Sirius and the two men and cried, "NO, DON'T HURT HIM! PLEASE! DON'T HURT HIM!"_

 _"_ _Get out of the way!" Lucius shouted gruffly, making to push her aside but Aurelia stood her ground. She turned her back on them, knowing they wouldn't hurt her out of respect for her cousin Robert._

 _"_ _Sirius," she pleaded, her hands gripping his arms, "please don't leave?"_

 _It was the first time she had seen him falter, so resolute had he been in his decision. He looked down at her, her eyes full of tears and her mouth trembling, and contemplated what it would mean for them if he left._

 _"_ _I have to," he croaked, a horrible lump in his throat preventing him from speaking clearly._

 _"_ _Stay!" She whispered._

 _They stared into each other's eyes, silently confirming for the first time what they meant to each other, but then Sirius shook his head and belted it out of the house._

 _"_ _SIRIUS!" Aurelia screamed, attempting to find her way out of the house through her tears, but a pair of strong arms restrained her._

 _"_ _Lia, stop. Let him go." Regulus' words did nothing to calm her, and she sobbed so loudly that Sirius could still hear her from the end of the street before he apparated to the Potter's._

"Other photos?" he questioned, doing his best to suppress the terrible memory of the night he left his family.

"Of us," Aurelia finished softly, her gaze not breaking from his own. He noticed how hurt she looked, even though she was obviously trying to cover it.

"That's because I took them with me," he said quietly, "I never wanted to leave you, Lia, I swear."

Her lip trembled and she seemed to be struggling with herself. He closed the gap between them and tried to pull her into an embrace but she pushed him away angrily.

"But you did leave, didn't you? If you had ever cared about me, Sirius Black, or cared about your brother, you would have stayed for one more year and then you could have left without getting yourself disowned."

Her words stung. He turned his back on her and walked back over to where he had been working.

"You know," he said after brief silence, "even if they hadn't disowned me, I would've ended up disowning them. They're not good people. I will not associate with Death Eaters, end of story."

Aurelia threw the medal she'd been polishing onto the floor so that it clattered loudly. "They're not all bad, you could have stayed for one more year. At least for Regulus' sake if not for anyone else!"

"You really think Regulus isn't going to sign up the minute he finishes school? It's what Mummy and Daddy want after all," Sirius mocked.

"SHUT UP!" Aurelia shouted. "You don't know anything about him anymore! He wouldn't join-"

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Professor McGonagall had reentered the room without either of the teens noticing. "I leave you for one hour and come back to find no more work done and the two of you engaged in a screaming match! This is a disgrace! I want you back in my office for detention next Saturday."

Aurelia didn't bother to apologise, she just exited the room as quickly as she could, leaving a seething Sirius in her wake.

* * *

 **A/N: Don't forget to revieeeeew, they are great motivators!**


	4. Chapter Four: Injudiciousness

**A/N:** Hello my little angel children! I bet you'd all forgotten about this fic, eh? Well I haven't! Sorry for the very slow update, life has been extremely hectic for my recently but I'm determined to get back on the story-writing bandwagon.

Thanks so much to Tingting26021996 and Aurora for reviewing, and to all my new followers/favouriters! My lovely reader, Aurora, asked me about whether Aurelia is the Avery that is mentioned in the books as being close with Mucliber and Snape. Weeeell while she does interact with those two frequently, the evil Avery (who is known for practicing dark magic on people while at school) that I will be working into the plot is Robert Avery, Aurelia's cousin. He's two years her senior and widely respected/feared amongst her circle of friends as he's a bit of a crazy, psychotic bastard.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, there's more development of Aurelia and Sirius' relationship in this one. Just keep in mind that they've known each other for a very long time, and while they can fight like cat and dog, they still harbour an underlying affection for one another.

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Injudiciousness**

"I can't believe you're missing practice again," James whined to Sirius as they pretended to listen to Professor Slughorn instruct their class on how to make a Wiggenwald potion.

"And I can't believe you're complaining about it again," Sirius groaned, "as I said before, I'm sorry! I didn't know Avery was going to freak out and piss off McGonagall! Besides, we're practicing tonight aren't we? We'll thrash Slytherin next week Prongs, stop worrying about it."

James huffed and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes wandering to the back of Lily's head. "We better do, I'm counting on a win before I ask Evans to Hogsmeade next weekend."

Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at that thought, it was highly likely that James would be rejected again despite pulling out all the stops for Lily this year. He was getting more desperate by the day, as though this was his last chance to win her over; he hadn't even spoken to Snape in weeks so that she would think he had grown up – it was Remus' idea, and it wasn't working.

"We will," he assured firmly. He opened his mouth to say more but as he did, his attention was caught by Lewis Mulciber, who was leaning close to Aurelia and murmuring something to her. His fists closed tightly, the memory of what he did to Mary flying to the forefront of his mind.

"How did he get away with it?" James asked in a low voice, his eyes resting on Mulciber as well. "Surely your testimony to Dumbledore was enough to get him expelled?"

"His father is on the school board," Sirius growled, "he's practically untouchable." He saw Aurelia leave her seat and walk over to the potions supply cabinet, so followed suit, reaching over her head to get a jar of Lionfish spines.

"You could have waited for me to finish, Sirius," Aurelia said quietly, turning around to face him with her arms full of ingredients.

"Where's the fun in that?" Sirius mocked playfully, reaching around her again to get another jar.

She cocked a delicately arched brow at him, confused by his antics considering the last time that they had spoken she had screamed at him and stormed off, but she was unwilling to show it. "Like being close to me, do you?"

It was poised as a perfectly innocent question, but Sirius couldn't pretend that he hadn't felt a familiar throb below his waistline or that his heartbeat had quickened dramatically. He dragged his eyes away from where they had subconsciously trained themselves on her lips, and attempted a quick quip to prevent her from seeing how flustered he had become, "not as much as Mulciber does, it appears."

She glowered at him, stepping closer to hiss her response so no one else would hear. "Lewis is going to be my husband, he can be as close to me as he wants. So you can give up on those dreams of touching me, Black, it's never going to happen."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius whispered, his eyes so alight with fire that she could practically feel the heat coming from them. "I think we both know who you'd rather have touching you, Peach."

Her eyes flashed, the use of his nickname for her pressing her buttons in all the wrong ways. "What?" She spat, "you actually think I would even consider you? You, the disgraced blood traitor over Lewis, the respected pureblood man with unending prospects? You really are fucking delusional, Black." She span on her heel and marched back over to her desk with her head held high, leaving a seething Sirius in her wake.

* * *

Aurelia stirred her potion carefully, waiting for it to turn red so that she could add the Lionfish spines, and humming to herself in an effort to distract her from her run-in with Sirius. He knew exactly how to get to her, he always had. Although she was quite pleased to discover that she too, could still get to him. Then there was the somewhat uncomfortable matter of her obvious attraction to him; she had always liked him and never denied that he was attractive, something that served Bellatrix and Narcissa more than their fair share of amusement, but there was something different about him this year. Something…sexy. She felt her cheeks warming at the thought, and then more thoughts came, dirty, lustful thoughts.

She could've slapped herself. Feeling this way about Sirius would do her no service, she would be much wiser to focus on Lewis.

Lewis! He was speaking, and she was staring at him, slightly open mouthed, thinking about Sirius. Her cheeks, if possible, grew even hotter.

"Oh, um, sorry Lewis. What was that you were saying?"

He shot her a slightly impatient glare before repeating himself. "I just wondered what tune you've been humming?"

Aurelia froze. It was a muggle song. She hadn't meant to sing it, she'd been so focused on Sirius and the song was by the band that had been displayed on a poster in his room. Mulciber didn't know that though, he wouldn't know any better, she could just lie to him-

"It's 'Here Comes the Sun'," Sirius interjected before she had the chance to cover her tracks. Mulciber glared at him and turned back to Aurelia.

"Who's it by?" He asked, ignoring the attention of the rest of the class who had instantly looked their way when they heard Sirius involve himself in the conversation. Sirius and Mulciber didn't exactly have the best track record.

But Aurelia remained frozen, her eyes wide with fear.

"It's a muggle song actually," Sirius chimed helpfully, "so you won't have heard of it."

It was as though someone had cast a silencing charm across the entire class, it wasn't everyday that a devout Slytherin was caught listening to muggle music.

"Is that right?" Mulciber snarled, baring his fang-like teeth at Aurelia in some primal act of dominance. "I wonder what your cousin will have to say about that?"

Aurelia shook her head, she tried to place her hand over Mulciber's but he withdrew it like he had been stung. "No, Lewis, there's no need to tell Rob, honestly! It's nothing, I swear it's-"

"Quiet!" Mulciber snarled, and no one dared make even the slightest movement for fear of insighting his wrath, not even Slughorn. "We will discuss this later." He returned to his potion and suddenly the rest of the class began bustling around their own potions, pretending that nothing had happened.

After five minutes had passed, Mulciber leaned close to Aurelia and whispered in her ear, "don't expect me to go lightly on you, Aurelia. Robert would want you punished."

She felt chills run down her ear and spread over her entire body, she was in for a beating.

* * *

"That was a pretty decent practice, Padfoot, I almost forgive you for not being able to come on Saturday!" James exclaimed happily as he and Sirius made their way back into the castle after their practice that evening. They'd stayed out later than normal because they had to clear up after the rest of the team but with James' new position as Head Boy, they weren't too worried about running into Filch.

Sirius laughed at his friend and clapped him on the back appreciatively. "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay mad at me forever!"

"Well let's not be too hasty, I did say 'almost', I'm reserving judgement until after the mat-"

"SIRIUS!" No sooner had the sound of Regulus' voice filled the corridor, his fist had collided heavily with Sirius' jaw.

He yelped and leapt back, raising his arms to defend himself as Regulus pounded another punch into his face. James whipped his wand from his robes but when he made to point it at Regulus, he swung Sirius around so that it was his back in James' line of fire.

"You bastard!" Regulus roared, grabbing Sirius by the collar and shaking him violently.

"Reg, what the fuck?" was all Sirius managed before another punch winded him.

James attempted to fire a hex at Regulus but due to his close proximity with his brother, missed, and toppled a coat of armour instead.

"Do you hate her?! Do you really hate her that much?" Regulus spat, pushing his brother backwards so that he fell into James. Sirius spat his hot, thick blood on the floor and moved his head slowly back up until his eyes connected with his brother.

"What's happened?" He asked, taking a step towards Regulus.

"She's hurt."

"Mulciber?"

"And others."

James, who had looked utterly bewildered up until that point, suddenly bore an expression of horrifying realisation. "Wait, are you talking about Avery? Has-has Mulciber done something to her?"

Both brothers ignored him, instead having some kind of silent conversation through their eyes. "Fuck. Can I see her? Is she okay?" Sirius' voice had become urgent, almost desperate.

"Like hell I would let you go anywhere near her! She'll be fine, no thanks to you, but if you go anywhere near her again Sirius, I swear to Salazar I will kill you."

James and Sirius watched Regulus' retreating back in silence, each filled with questions about what had happened to Aurelia. It was with a sickening thumping in Sirius' chest that he realised that if Robert had had anything to do with it, Aurelia wouldn't even be able to speak.

* * *

Sirius waited impatiently at breakfast, his fingers tapping against the dull wooden table that the Gryffindor's always sat at, until Aurelia finally entered the hall. He was shocked to see that she looked absolutely fine, he would have to get a closer look of course, but certainly from a distance he couldn't see so much as a scratch on her. The only slight difference was the pace that she was walking at, it was definitely slower than normal but she carried it off as though she were just a little tired.

Perhaps Regulus had exaggerated?

It wasn't long before he had seated them and prepared a plate of food for her, they began what looked like their usual banter over her large stack of pancakes, and she smiled and laughed along with his jokes. It was like nothing had happened. He cast his eyes over the other Slytherins at the table, they were giving Aurelia dark glares and everyone around them had shuffled as far away as possible. No, something had definitely happened last night. He knew it was naïve of him to hope otherwise. With a sigh, he returned to his cereal, he would have to put things right with her in Transfiguration.

* * *

She didn't look at him when she walked into Transfiguration that afternoon, it was taking all of her effort not to cry out in pain. Fortunately, Sirius had the good sense not to say anything until everyone had begun loudly working on their practicals.

"Lia, I'm so sorry."

It was genuine, she knew it was, everything about his tone and his body language told her so but still, she couldn't be seen to be favourable towards him.

"Please don't speak to me."

It was a simple request, but Sirius felt like she'd stabbed him in the heart. She sounded so sad, so meek. He would normally shower her in affection when she was like this, but now he just had to sit there and do nothing, all the while knowing that he had caused her misery.

* * *

Aurelia left the classroom as quickly as she could after the lesson but just as she'd got outside, she was shoved hard in the side by one of her classmates and her bag fell to the floor, its contents spilling everywhere. She heard them laughing snidely but didn't bother to react, instead she just waited for their footsteps to disappear and bent down to pick her bag up. She took in a sharp breath and squeezed her eyes shut, a searing pain in her side informing her that it was far too soon to bend down.

She felt someone swoop past her and heard them collecting her things. She opened her eyes and was about to thank them when she realised it was him.

"No, Sirius, don't," she said quietly.

He looked up at her, his hand hovering over one of the discarded books. "Let me help you." It was more of a plea than anything; he needed this, he needed to make amends.

She sighed deeply but nodded, she couldn't very well do it herself anyway. When it was all collected, they walked in careful silence until they neared the Slytherin common room. He seemed to understand when she stopped before they got there, not wanting any of her housemates to see them together and cause even more trouble for herself.

"Here," Sirius said, pointing his wand at her bag and casting a charm to make it feather-light, he placed it carefully on her shoulder and stood back again, looking thoroughly ashamed. "Merlin, Lia, I'm so sorry, I should've thought about what I was doing before I spoke yesterday."

"Never been your strong suit has it," she said casually, the small smile on her face gave away the tease.

He smiled sadly at her, but his features grew darker as his gaze moved to the Slytherin common room. "When I get my hands on Mulciber, I swear I am going to-"

"Sirius," Aurelia warned, "don't do anything, you'll just make it worse. Lewis already hates you enough, he'll be even worse if he thinks that there's anything going on between us."

Sirius looked completely torn, one side of him ready to tear the limbs off of Mulciber, and the other wanting to pick his childhood best friend up and take her somewhere safe. "You don't have to go back there tonight if you don't want to," he said eventually, nodding in the direction of her common room.

"Oh? And where else would I possibly go?" She sounded defeated.

"You can stay with me," he said softly, looking just as intently into her eyes as he had when he had left his parents house that summer.

She felt her heart flutter a little, he looked so earnest, he was offering her a way out, he wanted to help - but when she heard Regulus calling her name in the distance, she remembered why she could never go with Sirius. She would never leave Regulus behind.. "Lia! I've been looking for you everywhere! I tried to get to- Sirius! What the hell do you think you're - I told you to stay AWAY!" His voice instantly changed from a tone of concern to chilling, bone shattering rage, and he had his wand out and pointed at Sirius in less than a second.

"Reggie, sweetheart, put that away," Aurelia said tiredly, resting her head against him as she allowed his arm to snake around her shoulders protectively, "Sirius was helping me, if anything you should be thanking him!"

Regulus gave her a filthy look that quite clearly communicated that he did not intend to thank his brother for anything, but he did lower his wand slightly.

"I meant what I said," Sirius said quietly, ignoring his brother's intrusion and returning to their conversation.

Aurelia simply shook her head, "there's no need, Reggie's got it from here."

He nodded defeatedly and moved to walk away but Aurelia place her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you, though."

She watched his expression soften at her touch and smiled, she liked that she could still have an effect on him. Regulus was quite clearly disapproving of her gesture however, for his body stiffened and he tried to nudge her away, not wanting to further aggravate any of her injuries but urgent to get her away from Sirius.

* * *

Detention was proving difficult for Aurelia, McGonagall had them cleaning tapestries in a cavernous and extremely dusty disused classroom to the north of the castle. They had been allowed to keep their wands and use magic to get all the dust and creatures out of the ancient cloths, but as a family of doxies had decided to make many of the tapestries their home, she had to duck or leap out of the way at random intervals to avoid an angry doxy attempting to pull her hair out.

There was a distant knock on the classroom door and Professor Slughorn entered, asking for a quick moment to speak alone with Professor McGonagall.

"I won't be long," Professor McGonagall announced as she left the classroom behind Slughorn, "I want to see you hard at work when I get back! And absolutely _no_ shouting!"

Aurelia squeaked and lurched backwards as another doxy launched itself at her, the sudden movement causing her to hiss and spit out a line of particularly dirty curse words. Sirius looked back in surprise, an approving grin on his face.

"Everything okay over there?" He asked, noticing how she was clutching her side in pain. "Wait, have you still not been to the Hospital Wing?"

That comment earned him a glare. "Obviously not, Pomfrey would just go blabbing to Dumbledore."

"Peach, come on! You're clearly in a lot of pain, can't you just make up a story if you're that worried about her ratting on Mulciber?"

"No," she snapped, "I'll heal, it's fine."

"It's _not_ fine," Sirius insisted, he put his hands either side of her shoulders and made her look at him, "will you at least let me take a look?"

"You? Since when could you do healing spells?"

Sirius shuffled awkwardly, thinking of the times Remus had accidentally scrammed him while in his werewolf form. "They're not that hard. Hold still." He tentatively started to unbutton the bottom half of her shirt and examined her abdomen. It was bad, there wasn't a single patch of skin that wasn't covered in deep purple or yellow bruises, and by the strange appearance of her ribs, it looked as though at least three bones were broken.

"My god, Lia!" He breathed in horror, looking back into her eyes to see her fighting to hold back tears. She looked away ashamedly, making him leap into action before she stopped him. With some difficulty he managed to heal the ribs but couldn't do much for the bruising and just as he was about to stop, he noticed a small gash in her side. He traced his fingers along it and gasped as he realised that it was not small at all, it was an overreaching cut across her back.

"Take your shirt off," he said evenly, attempting to control the fury that was roaring inside him like a caged lion at feeding time. If that cut was what he thought it was-

She bit her lip nervously but complied, removing her shirt so that she stood in front of him in only her bra. He placed his hands on her shoulders again, causing shivers to rush down her spine. Had it been a different situation, she might have been excited, maybe even aroused for what was to come, but it wasn't. Sirius turned her around carefully and let out a muffled cry at what he saw, something in between a sob and a scream. She had deep gash wounds all over her back, the type of wounds that could only be caused by being repeatedly and maliciously whipped.

He healed her, quickly and carefully, his wand gliding over the cuts and sealing them shut again but couldn't stop himself from whispering, "what have they done? What the hell have they done?"

When he was finished, she turned back around to face him and pulled her shirt back over her shoulders. "Thanks," was all she managed, the look he was giving her causing a lump to rise in her throat.

"All _that_ ," he spat, "all that torture because you listened to a fucking muggle song?" He let out a low whistle and pushed his hand through his hair, much like how James would do when he was distracted. "Why don't you leave, Lia?" He pleaded. "Why are you staying with these people who-who hurt you like that? You can't possibly marry Lewis now, it's fucking mental! If he's capable of doing that to you Lia, don't you worry about what else he could do? Aren't you scared?!" He hadn't really been looking at her throughout his rant, but when he did he saw her slightly hunched over, with her hands covering her face.

It was reactive, he instinctively pulled her into a tight embrace and pressed his head against hers, muttering reassurances into her ear. After what felt like years, but had probably only been minutes, Aurelia pulled away slightly and wiped her eyes.

"I am scared," she whispered, locking eyes with him again but still remaining loosely in his arms, "but I won't leave. I just need to be more careful. Everything will be fine, Reggie will look after me, I'm not alone. Everything will be fine."

Sirius knew he couldn't argue with her, not when she was like this, but he wasn't going to drop it forever, he'd just have to wait for a better time to convince her to leave. " _I_ will look after you, Peach," he said gently, buttoning her shirt back up and brushing her soft hair back into place with his fingers.

What she did next was not unique, she had done it to him before when they were younger, but it made his hairs stand on end, and the throbbing below his waistline to return with a vengeance. She wrapped her arms around him tightly so that every inch of her body was pressed against his and nuzzled her nose in his neck, sighing contentedly. "I've missed you."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay so what did ya think? Review review review! Coming up in the next chapter: Slytherin v Gryffindor in Quidditch and Sirius' date with Mary in Hogsmeade.**


	5. Chapter Five: Provocation

**Chapter Five: Provocation**

"Sirius!" Called a voice from behind him as he made his way across the school grounds and towards the castle after yet another Quidditch practice. He turned around and smiled in surprise at the sight of Aurelia hurrying towards him from the direction of the forbidden forest.

"Hi," she greeted a little breathlessly when she'd caught up with him.

"Hi," he repeated, looking around them to see if anyone else was nearby. "Uh, why are you speaking to me in public, isn't it a little risky?"

She shrugged and sent him a mischievous grin. "It's not like anyone's around, and besides," her eyes glistened playfully, "I'm feeling daring today."

Her good mood infected him instantly, encouraging bubbly laughter to spill from his mouth. "Where've you been anyway?" He asked, picking a leaf out of her slightly dishevelled hair and cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"Oh just in the forest," she said casually, waving in the direction of the woods. "Care of Magical Creatures lesson," she added when he continued to look confused. "How about you? Quidditch again?"

He nodded, holding the door to the castle open for her. "Yeah, I stayed a bit late, wanted to do some laps. Got to make sure we beat you on Sunday!"

She pushed him in the side playfully, "sounds like a waste of time to be honest, there's no chance in hell that you'll beat us."

Sirius chuckled softly, he liked this side of Aurelia: the competitive side. It was one of the things that had made them such good friends, their shared passion for anything slightly dangerous or competition-worthy.

"Well we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" They'd reached the point where they had to go their separate ways: Aurelia to the Slytherin common room, and Sirius to the Gryffindor one.

"We will. Well I wanted to wish you good luck anyway," she offered, a pretty, genuine smile brightening her features.

"Really? I thought you wanted us to lose!" He teased.

"Oh I do," she jested back, "but I still want _you_ to do well…just not the rest of your team."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and shook his head merrily. "Well then thanks, I think…"

She smiled sweetly, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and started off towards the Slytherin common room, calling behind her, "good luck!"

"See you later, Peach," he called back, watching her retreating form and wondering if her hips had always swung like that when she walked.

* * *

Aurelia was sitting at a table with Severus Snape in the Three Broomsticks pub; their other classmates were also present, collected around a group of haphazardly pushed together tables. It was lucky that Severus was engaged in a conversation about a recent, highly publicised, Death Eater attack with Lewis and Evan Rosier or he might have noticed how her eyes wandered to the table behind him, where Sirius was chatting with Mary MacDonald.

She watched Mary run her fingers along Sirius' forearm as he recounted what must have been a very amusing tale, considering how she repeatedly threw her head back and laughed obnoxiously. Aurelia huffed and forced herself to look away, rolling her eyes at her own stupidity. Mary's laugh wasn't really obnoxious, she was actually rather pretty and had a nice sort of smile that only kindhearted people could pull off without looking creepy. Despite all of that however, Aurelia was jealous. Jealous that Mary could sit so close to Sirius in public and not suffer any repercussions. And then there was the touching…well that was neither here nor there, a pureblooded witch couldn't touch anyone like that in public!

Oh but if she could…

"Right!" Aurelia announced suddenly, anxious to nip her impure thoughts in the bud before they developed any further, "I'll get another round of drinks."

She hastened away, leaning against the bar when she got there and exhaled deeply.

"What can I get you love?" The barman asked, giving her a warm smile.

"Oh, just another round for the group of tables over there please?" She gestured in the general direction of the other Slytherins.

"Right you are. Won't be a mo'." She smiled at him gratefully, then turned her attention to her nails while she waited.

"Hello."

She froze, not needing to look up to know that Sirius was leaning casually against the bar beside her.

"How's your day going?" He prompted when she didn't respond.

"Oh!" She jumped slightly to jolt herself into speaking. "It's going alright, bit boring because the boys keep yammering on about stuff I'm not interested in, but not too bad."

"Hmm," Sirius agreed, "they don't know what they're missing." Aurelia's heart practically skipped a beat and she felt a blush begin to colour her cheeks. She wasn't sure if he had meant it as a compliment to her beauty but when she saw the twinkle in his eyes she knew that he had.

Not knowing how to respond, she decided to change the subject. "So uh, you look like you're having fun! Is MacDonald your date?"

Sirius shifted awkwardly, as though he thought the truth would offend her. "Um yes she is. She asked me to go with her last week."

Aurelia nodded and hit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from questioning him further. "She seems…nice." She hadn't meant it badly but unfortunately the sneer that had come with her words alluded to just that.

"Aurelia," Sirius warned, "don't be bitchy." He mentally kicked himself for saying that, for as soon as the words had left his mouth, Aurelia's death-glare kicked in with full force.

He sighed. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not telling you off-"

"No? Then what exactly are you doing?" She snipped.

"Oh _come on_ , Peach, you can hardly talk can you?! Mulciber is hardly the nicest of blokes!"

If she had the power to, Sirius was sure he would have been reduced to nothing but a pile of ash by the ferocity for Aurelia's glare.

"I'm quite aware of how he is, thank you," she hissed.

Sirius' mouth hung open in horror. "Oh god Lia I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Forget it," she cut in, "enjoy your date."

Sirius groaned loudly, pushing his hands through his hair in exasperation as he watched her rejoin her group. He turned back to the bar and raised his eyebrows at the barman, who nodded at him sympathetically.

* * *

Aurelia drained the dregs of her third butterbeer and slammed the bottle down on the table, glaring darkly as another empty bottle toppled over from the force of the impact.

"What did Black say to you then?" Severus enquired calmly, fixing her with his usual unreadable stare.

"What?" Aurelia snapped.

Severus raised his brows at her. "You can't fool me, Aurelia, you were in a fine mood before you went to the bar and spoke to Black and now you look like you want to kill someone."

"Wouldn't mind killing Black at this point," she grumbled, still glaring at the overturned glass bottle on the table.

"You and me both." Aurelia laughed at that, whether Severus meant it or not, his timing was always impeccable. "So," Severus continued, "what did he say this time?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, "just the usual Gryffindor crap, mentioned something about that MacDonald girl – I tuned out at that point."

"Right," Severus said slowly, making it clear by his tone that he didn't believe her. He glanced behind him, his eyes briefly flicking over Lily Evans, who had just entered the pub with James and taken a seat with Sirius and Mary. "No idea what he sees in her, disgusting muggle," he spat out vehemently, drawing the attention of the others at their table.

"Which piece of _filth_ are we talking about now?" Lewis joined in, casting his eyes around the pub with disgust.

"MacDonald," Severus replied, "I was just about to ask Aurelia how long she thinks the mudblood will be allowed to keep her wand after the Dark Lord takes over."

The other Slytherins laughed snidely, their attention upon the now extremely uncomfortable looking Mary, who had heard everything.

"Perhaps we should put a wager on it, hmm?" Lewis sneered, his harrowing smile growing wider when both Gryffindor boys pointed their wands at him. "Is something the matter, Black?"

Sirius growled and took a step forward, a move that only resulted in the rest of the Slytherins training their wands on him.

"Dear dear, can't even form sentences any more Black? Whatever is wrong with you?"

Sirius had just opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off, when Lewis raised a hand to interrupt and turned his malicious gaze upon Aurelia. "What do _you_ think is wrong with him, Aurelia?"

She felt Sirius' eyes upon her, everyone's eyes to be precise, but Sirius' gaze was the strongest – that was the one she cared about. Though as she considered that thought, she found herself wondering why. Why did she care what Sirius Black was thinking when he only cared about himself, about his own agenda and his own priorities? It was a subject that she knew she would have to investigate further but now was not the time, not when she had an impatient Lewis Mulciber watching her.

She'd have to please Lewis, he was her priority at the moment.

"Well," she responded coolly, meeting Sirius' gaze, "we would be here all day if I responded to that question," there was a smattering of laughter amongst her group, which was to be expected of course, but for some reason Sirius was laughing too. It was unnerving, almost crazy. His mocking laughter served only to agitate her anger, to stoke it like a poker to an ebbing flame. "Something amusing you, Black?"

"It's obvious isn't it?" Lily Evans piped up, folding her arms across her chest as she gazed upon the Slytherins with contempt. "The idea that Sirius could possibly be more abhorrent than your bunch of snakes - it's laughable."

Aurelia didn't bother to refrain from rolling her eyes, a gesture that Lily did not miss.

"You disagree, Avery? Didn't you hear what your housemate did to Mary?" She glared openly at Lewis, who licked his lips, delighted with her challenge. Mary on the other hand appeared to sink into her chair, as though she might be able to go unnoticed as the ground swallowed her up.

"What about what he did to _her_?" James chimed in, pointing at Aurelia. The Slytherins went deadly quiet, all holding their breath while they waited for Aurelia's next move.

This was her chance; she could publicly out Lewis, she could tell everyone what a monster he was and probably go unharmed, there were enough Gryffindors around to ensure that. But she needed him. She was her parents' only child, meaning that when they died, their house and other assets would be passed to the next male heir: her cousin Robert. So if Aurelia didn't secure a prosperous husband for herself she would be homeless, cashless, and generally miserable. Unfortunately for her, she had become rather accustomed to a certain kind of lifestyle and she planned to keep it that way, thank you very much.

"I won't pretend I haven't heard the rumours, Evans," she said loudly, moving closer to Lewis as she spoke, "but they are just that: rumours. Malicious lies created by people like yourself in an attempt to undermine a respectable man." She could practically feel the joy radiating from Lewis as she continued, "and as for what you're referring to, Potter, well I do believe that what Lewis does to me or in fact what I do to Lewis," she snaked her arm around his waist for effect, "is our own business. Don't you agree darling?" She asked Lewis, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.

Whatever mirth Sirius had experienced before, it had not lingered. "Avery, don't-" He started, his voice dangerous.

"I'm rather bored of this, aren't you Lewis? Shall we head back?" She interrupted, thanking Salazar when Lewis agreed and they left the pub.

"Wait," he pulled on her arm to make her halt after walking a mere five metres from the door, "that was impressive, Aurelia, I think I may even be able to forgive you of your prior infraction."

She attempted a coy smile and he seemed to appreciate it, for he pulled her closer to him and forced his cold lips upon hers. After a few moments of his wet lips moving against hers, he became impatient and attempted to enter her mouth with his tongue but she wouldn't allow him; the shock of the situation kept her frozen, mouth clamped firmly shut, unwilling to accept his intrusion.

When he pulled away it was with a patronising smirk. "A little inexperienced aren't we?"

Don't hit him. Don't hit him. Don't hit him.

"Sorry," she managed a high pitched giggle and used that same coy smile as before.

Lewis grinned predictably and nodded toward the window of the Three Broomsticks, where the crowd they had just left behind were staring at them open-mouthed. "Looks like we gave them a good show."

Aurelia tried to ignore the pang of guilt in her stomach as her eyes locked with Sirius'. The worst part was that he didn't even look angry or betrayed, it was worse than that – he looked devastated.

* * *

Sirius tore through the air on his broomstick, he lifted the bat in his hand and whacked the incoming bludger as hard as he could in the direction of the Slytherin keeper as James neared the posts with the quaffle. He smirked triumphantly when the bludger collided with the keeper's leg and distracted him for just long enough to allow James to score.

"Nice one, Prongs," he shouted to his friend, who grinned and high-fived him as he flew back to join the rest of the chasers.

He probably should have followed him but a loud groan from the Slytherin keeper stopped him and he turned back to watch him cradle his battered leg, a feeling of smug satisfaction growing inside his chest. It may seem odd for a Gryffindor to take such joy in another's misery, as that was generally regarded as a more Slytherin characteristic, but considering the keeper in question was none other than Lewis Mulciber, Sirius didn't mind. His parents may have blasted his name off the family tree but they could never erase all of the Black in him.

"What the fuck do you think you're smiling at, Black?" Mulciber snapped when he realised that Sirius had not left with his teammate as he was supposed to.

"I'm just enjoying the results of my handiwork," he offered casually. He flew closer to Lewis and peered down at his leg, which was bent slightly in the wrong direction.

"Ah so that was you, was it?" He raised his eyebrows challengingly, then smiled to himself as a thought occurred to him. "I don't know why I'm surprised that you see fit to attack me though, you never did like to share, did you?"

Sirius' grin fell quickly into a scowl. "What are you talking about?"

Lewis let out a harsh laugh and surveyed Sirius gleefully. "You can't play the fool with me, Black. I saw your face after I kissed your little Aurelia yesterday, you've been taking your jealousy out on me all afternoon."

Sirius said nothing, too engrossed in his anger to utter a word.

"I won't pretend that Aurelia is the best I've had. No, she's a little naïve still, a little _fresh_ – so to speak. No matter though, there's plenty of time to teach her, and oh how keen she is to learn," he licked his lips hungrily, as though he could taste her on them.

"Shut your mouth Mulciber, I'm warning you," Sirius growled. He didn't know when they had started, but the two men were now circling one another on their brooms, each weighing the other up predatorily.

"And what are you going to do, eh? Hit me with your bat? I can assure you that I can hurt you in more creative ways than you could ever dream of."

"Like with whips?" Sirius spat, feeling the disgust he felt inside contorting his face.

"Ah," Lewis said softly, "so you heard about that? Well I don't know what you expected Black, you were the one to out her for listening to that filth after all. Besides, I went far easier on her than her cousin would have; I even let her go early, her screams were so... arousing… I had to relieve myself. Yes, she will make an _excellent_ bride, that's for sur- AARGH!" His monologue was ruined by his own high pitched scream as Sirius lunged for him and began sinking blow after blow into his face, his stomach, his back – anywhere he could reach.

Their tangled limbs caused confusion for their brooms, and both started spinning and hurtling downwards but Sirius did not relent. He pounded punches into Mulciber as though he were determined to beat the very life from him. Mulciber jerked backwards after one particularly sickening blow to the stomach and Sirius lunged after him but in doing so, released his grip on his broom. The weight of his body caused Mulciber's broom to slip as well and the two men, still thirty-five feet in the air, fell faster towards the ground.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet.

Ten feet. Mulciber seemed to come alive, he grabbed Sirius' robes and with some kind of acrobatic flip, pushed Sirius' body around so that he would land first and break his fall.

Thud.

Screams.

Darkness.

* * *

 **A/N: What do you think so far then guys? Please let me know! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I love you all so much!**


	6. Chapter Six: Detachment

**A/N:** Thank you to 19irene96, NaomiBassWife, Aurora, Guest, and HPuni101 for reviewing since my last update! I'm really sorry that this chapter has taken so long, if you've been reading my other fic you'll know that I've had a tonne of work to get through :( I'll try my best to do another update ASAP though. Thank you so much for sticking with me this far.

Finally, welcome to my new followers, favouriters and other readers! Enjoy...

* * *

 **Chapter Six: Detachment**

"Waiting for me, little Lia?" Regulus' voice made Aurelia jump up from her spot on one of the sofa's in the Slytherin common room where she'd been waiting for the team to return from the match.

"Reggie!" She squeaked, enveloping him in an excited hug. "Well done, you were amazing!" Regulus had caught the snitch, leading to their team winning the match 170-90. It was lucky that he'd caught the snitch when he did for the Gryffindors had taken advantage of the Slytherin keeper being out of action and scored a further six goals.

They took a seat as the rest of the house fussed over Lewis and the rest of the team, congratulating them on their win. Lewis was enjoying the crowd that had gathered around him as he began to describe his fight with Sirius, they hung off every malicious word like bats to a tree.

"-hit him so hard his ribs cracked, he cried like a little girl after that, begged me to stop!"

"Brilliant!" Called one of the Slytherins.

"What happened after that?"

"Managed to kick him in the skull didn't I, pretty difficult considering how fast we were falling-"

"He's disgusting!" Aurelia spat. She turned away and glared at the fireplace, her fists balled.

"I doubt it was as bad as he's making out," Regulus reassured, taking each of Aurelia's hands in turn and uncurling them gently, "Sirius can hold his own in a fight."

Aurelia sighed deeply, eventually pulling her gaze from the fire and onto Regulus. "What were they even fighting about though? It must have been bad for him to attack Lewis like that!"

Regulus shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Reg!" Aurelia widened her eyes imploringly. "I saw you flying beneath them! Surely you heard something?"

He exhaled slowly, his fingers playing with the ends of her hair absent-mindedly as weighed up his options.

"Reggie, please?" She whined.

"Fine," he sighed. "But I don't want you to get… _carried away_ with this information, alright?"

"Alright," she agreed slowly, eyeing him with apprehension.

"Mulciber was uh- showing off, so to speak."

"Showing off? About what?"

Regulus' jaw clenched and through gritted teeth he explained further, "about you. He was making out like you're desperate for him."

"Oh!" Aurelia almost laughed, by the way Regulus had been talking she'd expected something worse.

Regulus shook his head to silence her relief. "No, that's not all. He-he-uh…"

"Well out with it, for god's sake!" She pushed, her patience wearing thin.

"He was talking about when he punished you," he gulped and looked down at his hands, "said he enjoyed hearing you screaming when he was whipping you, said he had to leave early so he could go and- so he could go and wank."

Aurelia's hand flew to her mouth to cover the gasp. "Oh my," she managed eventually.

"Come here," Regulus commanded, opening his arms for her to snuggle close. He pulled a blanket over them and held her tightly, trying to ignore Lewis as he continued bragging about how he'd mutilated his brother.

"Is Sirius okay?" Aurelia asked after a while.

"He's fine. He'll be in the hospital wing tonight but Madam Pomfrey will sort him out. No need for you to worry your pretty little head about it." His tone was warm and comforting but Aurelia couldn't help but continue to worry.

"Aurelia?" Regulus asked after ten minutes had passed.

"Mmhmm?" She mumbled, her eyes growing heavy against his chest.

"Don't visit him. I'm not going to let Lewis hurt you again but I can't risk him seeing you if you go to the hospital wing." He paused for a moment before adding, "promise me?"

Aurelia sighed heavily, wishing Regulus hadn't mentioned it. "I promise."

* * *

If one thing was true of all Slytherins, it was that they only kept their promises when it suited them – it didn't suit Aurelia. She stood outside the doors of the Hospital Wing, she'd been there for ten minutes already but couldn't muster up enough courage to go inside. After mentally berating herself a few more times for ignoring Regulus' advice, she pushed the doors open and sneaked inside, praying that there wouldn't be anyone else in there that would recognise her. Luckily, there was only one other patient in the ward aside from Sirius: a first year Hufflepuff who was chatting to her friend who had come to visit; neither of them noticed her enter.

Sirius lay perfectly still, he was propped up in bed and had a magazine in his lap but he wasn't reading it, instead he just stared blankly out of the window opposite. She walked over to him tentatively and coughed when she was close, blushing when his eyes snapped to her and widened with surprise.

"Aurelia? What are you doing here?"

She blushed again but managed to mumble, "I've got a free period before Charms, thought I might come and see how you are."

"I see," he said expressionlessly. He stared at the wall in front of him, not giving away anything further.

"So um… How are you? You look pale." She pressed her hand to his forehead gently and her brow furrowed as she examined him.

"I'm just tired."

Aurelia busied herself with brushing his hair out of his face, leant closer to him so that the Hufflepuffs wouldn't hear her and spoke softly, "Reg told me about what happened with you and Lewis."

"I think the whole school saw what happened, Peach," he grumbled, his eyes closing as she continued to stroke his hair, "it's not exactly a secret."

"No," she whispered, "he heard you both shouting!"

Sirius didn't answer straight away, but when he did it was with his eyes still closed. "He did huh? And what do you think about that?"

She sighed and stopped stroking his hair, causing him to open his eyes reluctantly. "I think that you're incredibly stupid," his jaw stiffened, "because you could've killed yourself, jumping off your broom like that!" she added quickly. He looked unsure of her and she realised that she'd have to elaborate. "But I am grateful…in a weird kind of way."

He chuckled weakly, the gesture bringing some colour back to his face. "Well that fits I suppose, we have a weird kind of friendship."

Aurelia didn't smile as he did though, if anything his words made her feel more insecure. He cocked his head to the side as if to ask what was wrong so she continued. "A friendship?"

Sirius felt his breath hitch in his throat. She had always had a strange effect on him, if she walked into the room it would be like she was the only one there and he'd barely be able to concentrate on anything else. He had thought that maybe it was just a physical attraction, there was certainly no denying her beauty, but that didn't explain why she was always on his mind or why he always got so protective over her. Either way, however, it couldn't happen. She had made it clear that she wouldn't leave the world that he despised so much and he would never rejoin her world, so what was the point of him trying to pursue anything further? He was pretty sure she wasn't asking about that though, she just wanted to know if they were still friends. He could at least reassure her of that.

"Yes, a friendship."

She looked away quickly but not quickly enough for him to miss the disappointment on her face, which served only to confuse him further. Desperate to change the subject he blurted out, "so umm…what was that whole thing with Mulciber about in Hogsmeade?"

"What thing?" she mumbled, quickly drying her eyes with her finger under the pretence of removing an eyelash.

"The very public kiss. I didn't think that was your style."

He could see her tensing, her jaw became set and her eyes cold and he knew that he'd lost her, her little visit wouldn't last much longer. "He kissed _me_ , Sirius. I didn't want him to."

"Didn't push him away either though, did you?"

"Oh for Salazar's sake! Will you just spare me the judgement for one day?"

Sirius' eyes narrowed, something they always did when he started to get worked up. "No, not until you tell me that you're not going to force yourself to marry that bastard!" She rolled her eyes and huffed loudly but he wouldn't let her speak yet. "You should only marry someone that loves you, Peach, you don't have to settle for anything less!"

"Why do you care?!" She was trying very hard not to raise her voice but the circumstances were doing their best to force her to. "It's not like _you_ love me or _you_ intend to marry me!" She paused for just a fraction of a second in the hope that he might cut in and contradict her – he didn't. "I'm tired of you preaching to me as if you're some kind of bloody Saint."

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I _am_ grateful that you stuck up for me, Sirius, I really am, and I know that you're coming from a good place with this but please, _please_ just let me work this one out myself."

He stared into her eyes for a long time, noting the sad determination shining within them, and eventually nodded, defeated. She did her best to give him an encouraging smile and leant forward to brush her lips against his forehead, trying her best to ignore the desirous lurch in her stomach as she did so. "I'm so sorry that you're hurt," her voice started trembling as she gazed upon him looking so tired and beaten, "I hope you feel better soon." She turned to leave but only made it a few steps before stopping suddenly and turning back, an envelope in her hands. "I almost forgot to give you this," she passed the envelope to him, "just a card, you can put it with the others, I haven't signed it."

Sirius looked down at the envelope and smiled. "Thank you, Lia. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah," she breathed without conviction. "See you soon."

* * *

Sirius turned the envelope over and over in his hands when she'd gone, then eventually peeled it open and pulled out the card. It was just a plain piece of card folded in half but she'd sketched a little picture of a motorbike on the front. He smiled at that; he used to harp on about motorbikes to her for hours on end, and although she was never too sure about what their function was or why muggles loved them, she had always done her best to take an interest. That was another one of her good qualities, he mused.

He flipped the card open and stared at what he saw. She'd enclosed a photograph of them, it was from a night they had spent in his house over the summer between their fifth and sixth years.

 _"Sirius?" Aurelia called from the stairway of 12 Grimmauld Place. The door to his room clicked open and soft footsteps became louder as she approached his bed; it creaked slightly as she sat down beside him. "Why are you hiding up here? Your mother's looking for you!"_

 _He cocked his brow in a most sarcastic manner at her words, arms folded across his chest in annoyance. "That's precisely why I'm up here."_

 _"Ah," she said shortly. "Well you won't be able to hide for much longer, why don't you come down with me now? Lucius and the Lestranges are here, and your cousins too, we should have enough numbers to play a game of Quidditch?"_

 _Sirius huffed deeply. She always managed to find a way to make him be sociable with his tiresome relatives over the summer break._

 _"Fine, I'll come."_

 _She grinned and grabbed his hands, pulling him off the bed with a great heave._

 _"Wait! Wait a minute, Peach," he said reluctantly, pulling a small satin box from his pocket and pressing it into her hands. She just looked at him in confusion. "Mother will want to see it," he said with a shrug, confusing her further. "Just open it!"_

 _She complied, mouth falling open as she gazed down at a delicate ring formed by two intertwining strands of platinum and sprinkled with an array of twinkling cyan-blue diamonds._

 _"Sirius," she breathed, "is this-"_

 _"A promise ring?" He finished. "Yeah. Mother wanted you to have one of the family rings but they're all pretty hideous so I bought that one for you instead."_

 _She stared down at it again, hardly able to believe her eyes. Carefully, she lifted it from its cushioned casing and slipped it onto the fourth finger of her left hand, admiring how it glittered even in the low light of Sirius' room. "I don't know what to say," she said eventually, looking up at Sirius who'd been watching her curiously. "It's-it's-"_

 _"It doesn't mean anything, don't worry." Sirius cut in. "It's just to get my bloody psycho of a mother off my back."_

 _"Right...yes of course, it doesn't mean anything." She stood up quickly and made a show of brushing the creases from her dress in an attempt to hide her tears. However, as always, Mrs Black managed to make an appearance at the most inconvenient point. Her lips pursed into a thin line as she entered the room, she normally chose to avoid it and had been blissfully unaware of the posters of muggle girls and motorbikes slapped to the walls. Sirius smirked at her reaction as he silently enjoyed his victory, that was until she spotted the ring on Aurelia's finger._

 _"Oh excellent!" She squawked. "You like the ring then, dear?" She smiled slyly at her son, whose previous mirth had now been wiped from his face._

 _"Yes of course it's beau-"_

 _"Kreacher!" She screeched, not bothering to hear the end of Aurelia's sentence. "Fetch me the camera, I want to take a picture of the happy couple."_

He turned the photograph over and noticed some writing on the back, his stomach dropped painfully as he saw what it read: _It meant something to me_.

Turning the photograph back around, he examined Aurelia. She was standing arm in arm with him; though while he was looking around, irritated and desperate to leave, she was looking directly at him. She was looking at him with an expression akin to want or longing and he was completely oblivious of it.

But he saw it now. Was it possible that Aurelia had liked him as more than just a friend all along?

* * *

A week or so later, Aurelia, Regulus and a few other Slytherins were gathered across a few benches outside in the courtyard, enjoying the brisk autumnal weather and generally pretending that they didn't have a massive pile of work to be getting on with.

"Another Death Eater attack?" Aurelia asked, peering over Regulus' shoulder at the article he was reading.

"Yeah," he said, tearing his eyes away from the page and grinning at Severus and Evan Rosier, who were both within earshot. "They managed to clear out an entire town in Newcastle."

"Clear out?" Aurelia questioned, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Well," Evan began, "the town was historically a wizard town but had been overtaken by muggles throughout the years, so the Dark Lord sent a group of Death Eaters to…" he rolled the last word over in his mouth until he had decided upon the finishing phrase, " _liberate_ it."

Severus, upon seeing the unchanging confusion on Aurelia's face, elaborated. "They massacred the entire lot, almost one hundred of the disgusting mudbloods-"

"LANGUAGE!" Evan barked, nodding in Aurelia's direction for emphasis. "You will not speak so freely in front of a lady, Snape!"

Aurelia tried hard to suppress the smile that was desperate to consume her lips; Severus looked positively outraged while Evan had straightened his back and folded his arms across his chest defiantly.

"Something amusing you?" Regulus whispered in her ear playfully.

She turned to him, smiling, and was about to retort when she saw Sirius and his friends emerge into the courtyard, each looking incredibly guilty yet pleased with themselves at the same time. It wasn't long before a group of Hufflepuff girls followed in their wake and approached them, clearly congratulating them on some apparently brilliant prank. One girl in particular caught Aurelia's attention, she was a leggy brunette with olive skin and a tiny waist; she was twirling a piece of her hair around her finger whilst leaning unnecessarily close (in Aurelia's opinion anyway) to Sirius. The longer she watched the interaction, the more rigid her body got, made worse when Sirius placed his hand on the small of her back and whispered something into her ear that caused her to giggle and swat him flirtatiously.

Nevertheless, she was determined not to care.

"You know," Regulus' silky voice said into her ear, so that no one else could hear, "you really ought to move on, he's clearly not interested in you, wouldn't want to be another one of his pathetic little hangers-on would you?"

Aurelia snapped her eyes to him angrily, "I don't know what your talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he countered, his voice becoming even lower as he continued, "break any promises recently?"

"How the hell-"

"-the prefect bathroom is the next floor up, your lucky it was me who saw you and not someone else!"

"Bullshit!" She hissed. "I took precautions, you shouldn't have been able to follow me!"

"Where there's a will there's a way, my exquisite little pet," he said smoothly, tapping her nose with this finger for extra effect.

"I can't believe you follo-"

"What are you two bickering about?" Severus interjected curiously. Evan too was eying them with suspicion.

"Regulus was just being a hypocrite, as always." Aurelia covered easily, lying had always been one of her fortes.

"Oh please, you're the one who-" Regulus started.

She put her hand over his mouth to silence him and continued. "He's berating me for breaking a promise when he himself had already broken his promise to take me to the Halloween ball, so now I'm completely dateless!"

Regulus rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault I'm in such high demand! Besides, Evangeline has assured me that she would make it worth my while soooo there was really no contest."

Aurelia was just about to hit him when Evan cleared his throat loudly. "Aurelia," he said boldly, puffing his chest out pompously. "May I have a word with you privately for a moment?"

"Oh," she said surprised, "of course."

She took his arm and allowed him to lead her over to a more secluded corner of the courtyard, though it appeared that they weren't the only ones benefiting from its increased privacy. The Hufflepuff girl had Sirius pushed up against a pillar and his hands were moving all over her body as they kissed ferociously. Evan looked deeply disgusted by their very public display of affection and cleared his throat loudly, causing the pair to jump and glare at him.

"Aurelia, I wanted to ask you something." Evan started, taking her hands within his and staring at her intently. "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Halloween ball?"

Aurelia smiled widely, this was too perfect. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sirius watching them while the girl tried to get his attention by playing with his hair.

She looked back at Evan who was patiently awaiting her response. She'd never really been in such close contact with him but now that she was she noticed the light smattering of freckles that gave him a friendly, warm appearance. He always wore his dark blonde hair neatly slicked back, dressed impeccably and came from a respected family. What was not to like?

"I'd love to," she said coyly whilst flashing her best smile.

"Excellent."

"But what about Lewis? I don't think he'll be too pleased." She added as an afterthought.

"I'll take care of Lewis, don't you worry."

Knowing that Sirius was still watching them, she ran her hand over his bicep and whispered, "I have no doubt that you can take care of him, Evan."

She couldn't help but smirk as they walked back to the main group. Not only had she got back at Sirius, she'd also got Evan to turn on Lewis. Men could be so simple, she mused.

* * *

 **A/N: So what do you think then? Are Sirius and Aurelia ever going to admit their feelings?**

 **Up next: the Halloween ball.**


	7. Chapter Seven: Discovery

**A/N: Thanks so much to HPuni101, Tingting26021996, NaomiBassWife and Aurora for reviewing. So lovely to hear your thoughts!**

 **I hope you all enjoy this next chapter, I certainly had fun writing it...**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Discovery**

"So now I'm thinking that I should go with the purple because that one really stands out and-"

"What are you lot looking at?" Aurelia interrupted, entering the seventh year Slytherin girl's where her other three roommates were pouring over a magazine from Madam Louisa's boutique.

"Dresses for the ball!" Lucinda snapped, as though it were obvious. Elvira, another one of Aurelia's classmates, rolled her eyes and snatched the magazine from Lucinda, tossing it over to her to have a look.

"Oh yes," Aurelia said, attempting not to gag at the frilly monstrosity that Lucinda wanted, "it's lovely."

"Okay it's decided, I'm going to get that one then!"

"You better get to the owlery then Lu, Madam Louisa might not be able to make it in time!" Florence, the fourth and final seventh year girl warned. Lucinda didn't need to be told twice, she grabbed a bag of money and legged it out of the room and up the stairs, she'd never been one to walk gracefully as they had all been taught to.

"So," Elvira started, smiling at Aurelia slyly, "have you got your dress yet?"

Aurelia tried not to scowl, Elvira knew perfectly well that she couldn't afford a new dress and would therefore be wearing one of her mother's old ones, she just enjoyed pointing out how much more affluent they were than her. Aurelia's father was the younger of two boys, meaning that the majority of his father's inheritance and the family estate had gone to his brother, Robert's father and Aurelia's uncle. When her grandfather died, Aurelia's father quit his well-paid job at the Ministry and retrained as a zookeeper, a job he had always yearned for but wasn't allowed to do as it wasn't something that a 'respectable pureblood male' should be seen doing. Whilst he adored his new role and introduced Aurelia to a wealth of new creatures, the job didn't pay well and they had to move from their expensive town house in London to a cottage in the countryside. Nevertheless, Aurelia loved it and didn't complain when the elf died and she had to start doing the cooking and some of the cleaning (for their drop in wealth and status meant that new elves wouldn't approach them for work). The only time she didn't love it was occasions such as this, where she just wanted to feel beautiful for one night.

"I'm just going to wear one of the ones I've already got," she admitted eventually, busying herself with brushing her hair.

"Which one," Elvira sneered, "the one you wear to weddings or the one you wear to every other occasion we go to? Or perhaps there's a secret third that we haven't seen countless times already?"

"Now now Vira," Florence cut in, seeing Aurelia's deep blush, "it's not Aurelia's fault she's poor. Maybe you should ask Robert for some money, Lia? I'm sure he'd understand."

Aurelia highly doubted that, but it was an idea… "I suppose it couldn't hurt," she agreed slowly.

"Which one would you get?" Florence asked, sitting next to Aurelia on her bed so they could look through the magazine together. Reluctantly, Elvira joined them, making suggestions every now and then.

Eventually, Aurelia flipped to a dress that rendered her temporarily speechless, aside from excited squeals.

"Oh my gosh yes, definitely that one!" Florence squealed. "That would look amazing on you, don't you think, Vira?"

"It's okay," the other girl shrugged, standing up to leave the room, clearly bored.

"Don't listen to her," Florence insisted when they were alone in their room, "she's just bitter that you're prettier than her."

Aurelia laughed, Florence was always saying stuff like that. It was nice really, she used to be more like the other girls but as she'd now been with her boyfriend, a Ravenclaw, for two years, she'd mellowed out. "I don't see how she could be bitter about that, Elvira is gorgeous."

"No," Florence shook her head, "she's _rich_. There's a difference." Sighing at the evident confusion Aurelia was displaying, she elaborated further. "Vira knows how to make the best of an average situation, she wears expensive clothes and jewellery and gets her hair done weekly but if you actually look at her face, she's pretty plain. She just makes sure that you see the clothes first!"

Perhaps if Elvira wasn't so snide all the time, Aurelia would have scolded her friend but as it was, Elvira was a massive bitch and she couldn't help but giggle just a little. She decided she would ask Rob for some money; he might not be the most generous of people but perhaps if she appealed to his pride, made a point of mentioning how shabby her dresses had gotten and how she'd be the only one representing the Avery's at the ball, he might just give it to her. Worth a shot, anyway.

* * *

Padfoot and Prongs trotted along the border of the forbidden forest in the direction of the whomping willow. Although the autumnal weather brought with it earlier sunsets, it was still light enough that someone could spot them, and a dog and stag running through the grounds together was definitely peculiar, even for Hogwarts. They were just passing the Care of Magical Creatures cabin when Padfoot caught a whiff of something excruciatingly delightful…chicken. He barked twice, a signal that Prongs had learnt to mean 'stay there' and took off towards the source of the smell. As he drew closer the smell mixed with something else, something even better. It was a lovely mix of bergamot, pear and amber; a smell he knew only to belong to Aurelia.

And there she was, preparing some food for the Crups puppies that had been found the week before, along with a few other classmates. He couldn't resist approaching, it was always fun for him to see how people reacted to his dog-form. Wanting to lure her away from the rest of the group, he stood a few meters back and barked, laughing to himself as all six students jumped out of their skin.

"Good god, what's that bloody great wolf doing out here?!" One of the students, a Hufflepuff, exclaimed.

"It's not a wolf!" Another student corrected. "It's just a dog, must have come from the village."

"Hello little doggy," another Hufflepuff student approached Padfoot, she almost managed to pet him until he sprang away and stopped in front of Aurelia, wagging and barking happily.

"He wants some chicken, Avery! Do us a favour and give him some before we all go deaf!" A Ravenclaw guy, Michaelson - if Padfoot remembered correctly, shouted.

Aurelia rolled her eyes at him but picked up some chicken anyway and approached Padfoot, an amused smile playing on her mouth. "Why hello there," she said gently as she neared him, laughing as he ran around her in a circle and wagged his tail viscously. "Are you hungry?" He barked once causing her to laugh again. "Here you are," she said and placed the chicken down for him. It was gone in seconds.

He looked up at her happily, inviting her to pet him. She did so with glee, scratching behind his ears and cooing about how wonderful he was. Such attention truly was the best part of being a dog.

He knew that now was his chance to get a belly rub and flopped down on his back, quickly rolling over to expose his long stomach. "Oh so now you want belly rubs too?" She laughed. "What a greedy little thing." But despite her protests, she bent over to oblige. Not a bad view, he thought to himself, another great thing about being a dog.

Though just as he had thought it, something glittery caught his eye and he rolled back over to investigate. Aurelia, who had crouched down beside him, furrowed her brow in confusion as the dog sniffed at her chest. She looked down to see he was examining the promise ring that Sirius had given her, she wore it every day on a long chain around her neck but normally kept it tucked safely underneath her clothes so that no one would see. It must have fallen out while she was petting him.

"It's lovely isn't it," Aurelia said quietly, holding it in the palm of her hand for him to see better.

He could hardly believe his eyes, not only had she kept the ring but she wore it too, and he had a sneaking suspicion that today wasn't a one-off. He felt a whine sneaking out of his mouth despite himself; he looked sadly up at her, tail between his legs and ears back.

"Yes," she agreed, stroking his head softly, "that's exactly how I feel too." She gazed into his big grey eyes thoughtfully and sighed as she twirled the ring between her fingers. "I know I shouldn't wear it," she whispered, more to herself than the dog, "Rob would have my head if he found out! But I don't know," she sighed again, "I just can't bring myself to take it off yet." She stared at him for a while, absently stroking him until she slowly emerged back to reality from deep inside her thoughts and tucked the chain back inside her robes securely. He shuffled closer, earning a tickle under his chin. "Go on now, you ought to be getting back to wherever you came from, I'm sure someone is missing you terribly."

He whined again and nuzzled his face against hers gently, offering her a tentative lick on the cheek when she didn't push him away. She chuckled slightly and gave him one last scratch behind the ear before getting to her feet and reminding him to go home. It was painful for him to just walk away after that but he knew he couldn't keep James waiting for much longer and padded softly back into the forest. He sniffed a few times as he neared its border, picking up James' scent rather than Prongs', he must have transformed back.

Indeed, James was leaning against a tree, grinning as Padfoot came back into sight. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

Padfoot wagged a few times before quickly transforming back into Sirius. "Sorry mate, you know how I get with chicken!"

James laughed, he was shaking his head but didn't look annoyed, instead he clapped his best friend on the back appreciatively. "Right lets get going, Lily will kill me if I'm late for patrols!"

"I thought you liked it when she gets mad?" Sirius grinned, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. James sent a rather rude hand gesture in his direction, then quickly transformed, thereby avoiding any further comment. "Such a cop out," Sirius chuckled, before transforming again himself.

But really he was glad for the silence, for it gave him time to reflect upon what he'd just seen. As they wandered through the tunnels leading to the Shrieking Shack, it dawned on Sirius how foolish he'd been. What he wanted had been there all along, it all made sense now; the hostility was just a cover up for the betrayal she felt, the fierce protection of Regulus, the photograph, the ring…she wanted _him_. Only he had sent her away, told her they were just friends, denied everything! Well, he thought resolutely as they entered the ruined shack, if she was still wearing the ring – even though it was on a chain and out of sight – then there had to be hope for him yet.

* * *

It was just three days before the ball and Sirius had barely seen Aurelia let alone had the chance to speak to her. Finally, during a free period on Wednesday afternoon, Sirius decided to take matters into his own hands and used the map to find Aurelia; he was pleased to find her alone in the owlery.

She probably heard him enter, for he was intentionally not being discrete, but continued to stare down at a magazine from her position on the floor without so much as a glance in his direction. He moved closer and couldn't help but roll his eyes at the magazine she was looking at.

"Is this not a bit of an odd spot to be enjoying Madam Louisa's latest catalogue, Peach?" He inquired lightly. "I'm not sure she'd be overly flattered if she knew."

Aurelia looked up and attempted to glare at him, though he could see it didn't reach her eyes. "It's not my fault," she huffed.

"No?" Sirius laughed, taking a seat on the window ledge that she was leaning against. "Whose fault is it then?"

"That bloody bird!" She hissed, pointing at a pompous looking brown owl who had a letter attached to its leg. "It was supposed to deliver me that letter at breakfast but I overslept and Reg said it nearly pecked him half to death when he tried to take it on my behalf!"

Sirius laughed heartily despite himself, he did enjoy Aurelia's little strops. "Regulus is hardly known for his love of animals, I'm sure he was just being dramatic."

"He's good with Kreacher!" She pointed out defensively.

"I don't think you're making the point that you think you are, Peach. Having the affections of a bitter, twisted old elf is not really something that most people would shout about."

The corners of her mouth twitched up into an unwilling smile, Kreacher and Sirius used to have the most amusing spats.

"Who's the letter from anyway?" He enquired casually, looking back up at where the owl was perched to see if he could recognise the handwriting.

"Just Rob," Aurelia said, looking back at the magazine, "I asked him to buy me a dress that I found for the ball."

"Ah." Sirius nodded, it might seem odd to some that she hadn't asked her uncle for the money, considering it was he who funded Rob, but such people would clearly not have met Mr Avery. "Let me see if I can get the it down for you then."

To Aurelia's annoyance, Sirius got the letter with relative ease, the owl had flapped and screeched in her face when she tried and she was normally very good with animals! He passed it to her with a triumphant grin but she didn't pay him any mind, instead she slit the parchment open and read what ended up being a rather short response.

It didn't take a mind reader to know what Rob had written, Sirius could see it all in Aurelia's body language. "He said no then?"

She sighed and nodded. "Oh well it was a long shot, the owls can have some extra insulation tonight," she tossed the magazine on the floor and dusted her robes off as she stood to leave. "I'd better get back," she said briskly. "Regulus will be looking for me."

Sirius nodded and allowed her to take a few steps away before suddenly remembering why he'd come in the first place and grabbed her arm. She turned around sharply causing their bodies to nearly collide, and looked at him in confusion.

"Yes?" She probed when he didn't say anything.

Sirius coughed awkwardly and ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling rather shy – it was not a feeling he was used to. "I wanted to say, about the photograph you gave me-"

"Don't worry," she interrupted quickly, "you don't have to say anything."

"No, wait! I just wanted to tell you," he ran his hand through his hair again, "the ring, it-it _did_ mean something to me." Her eyes widened ever so slightly at that but otherwise she kept her expression neutral. "I told you that I picked it, didn't I?"

"Yes," she agreed, her brow furrowing, "but I don't understand what tha-"

"-I lied." He cut in. "I looked for ages to find the right ring for you, honestly weeks and weeks, but I couldn't find the right one…so I had one made instead."

"Oh, well that's very nice of-"

Sirius raised a hand to silence her, "I'm not done." He took a deep breath and continued, fixing his gaze on her shining blue eyes. "I couldn't find one so I commissioned one instead. I had this picture of you and I asked them to help me find a stone that would match."

"Match what?"

"Uh-" he coughed again awkwardly, "your uh-" he waved his index finger around her eyes.

She let out a slow breath, staring at Sirius in a completely new light. He didn't know how to act, so just stood there lamely, wishing he hadn't brought it up. "The blue diamonds, you chose them to match me? To match my eyes?"

He tilted his head in agreement and noticed said eyes sparkling with tears. It was her turn to cough awkwardly now. "How very considerate of you, Sirius," she said quietly after a while, "thank you."

"Sure, yeah, no worries," he mumbled, feeling so awkward that he was sure the only thing he could do was flee. "I uh-I should get back."

"Oh, right, okay. I'll probably see you at the ball then?"

Sirius nodded quickly and practically ran to the door. "Are you going with that Hufflepuff you were with in the courtyard the other day?" She called after him.

He felt his insides knot together, his body barely able to withstand any more awkwardness. "Uh no," he said turning back, "no, I'm going with Mary."

"MacDonald?"

"Yeah." He tried to read her reaction but she gave nothing away.

"I see. Well, thank you for getting that letter down for me, I'll let you get on." Not needing to be told twice, he turned on his heel and hurried back down the stairs, wondering desperately when he had become so afraid of girls. It was only when he was nearing Gryffindor Tower that he remembered that he was going to send off for some new dress robes while he was in the owlery; groaning loudly, he turned around and headed back.

* * *

Aurelia wondered if she had ever been so comfortable in her life. She was tucked up against Regulus in the common room, her eyes were closed and she could feel the warm glow of the fire upon her face. Regulus was reading the business section of the Prophet out loud in a purposefully soothing voice, so really it was no surprise when she began to slip into the fuzzy stage between consciousness and sleep. That was all ruined, however, by a cry so shrill it could rival a banshee.

"Aureliaaaaaa!" Florence shook her ferociously, just in case her shriek hadn't done the trick. "Wake up for Salazar's sake, you've got to get ready for the ball!"

"Leavmelone," she mumbled, swatting at the source of the noise.

"Regulus, honestly! Can't you help? She has to get ready!" Florence appealed.

"If I must," he said cheerily, and suddenly Aurelia's body was being hoisted into the air and flung over his shoulder.

"I really wish you would stop doing that," she grumbled as he carried her down to her room and plopped her onto the nearest bed unceremoniously.

"Your Highness," he bowed exaggeratedly before hopping back out of the room to avoid a potential attack.

"Get off my bed!" Lucinda practically screamed as she emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head.

"Alright alright, I'm sorry!" Aurelia rolled off the bed and wandered over to her own, noting how the hangings had been pulled shut. "That's funny, I wonder who-" She stopped suddenly, unable to form any other words as she stared at what was on her bed.

A large flat black box was laying on top of her duvet, the logo of Madam Louisa's boutique emblazoned on its lid. She reached forward and prised the lid off carefully, gasping at the dress inside. It was even more beautiful in real life. Glistening golden beads flowed down the bodice of the strapless gown, almost seeming to melt into the silky white material that draped to the floor. It was simple in shape, a sweetheart neckline and figure-hugging but moveable fit that was perfect for dancing in as it served to accentuate every elegant twist and turn. Anyone would look beautiful in this dress, but as Florence had pointed out, it would suit Aurelia particularly well.

"Ahhhhh!" Florence squealed from behind her, the first of the other girls to notice what had taken Aurelia's attention. "You got it!"

Aurelia turned around, positively beaming with delight, and nodded.

"Robert coughed up for it then did he?" Elvira asked snidely, though was quite clearly impressed by the way her eyes ran over the dress.

"Uh, yes!" Aurelia lied, realising that she had no idea who had bought it for her, but not wanting the girls to know.

"Well I never, he clearly must want someone to notice you tonight then," Lucinda smirked, winking. "Well don't just stand there, get ready for goodness sake!" Her words seemed to snap them all back into action for the other girls quickly returned to rifling through jewellery boxes, styling and restyling their hair, and applying glittery eyeshadow.

Aurelia placed the dress down carefully next to the box, before looking to see if someone had left a note. She froze when she saw it…though unsigned, she would recognise that handwriting anywhere – Sirius. The note simply read:

 _Aurelia,_

 _I hope this is the one you wanted. Either way you'll look incredible in it. Enjoy._

She pressed her hand to her mouth, unsure whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Why had he bought it? She had no idea, but she certainly couldn't wait for him to see her in it.


	8. Chapter Eight: The Edge of the Precipice

**A/N:** Thanks so much to alfieHewie and Aurora for reviewing, and to everyone else who favourited, followed or just read the last chapter. Your support is very appreciated, thank you.

alfieHewie - looking forward to the ball huh? Well this chapter is dedicated to it, enjoy!

Aurora - Don't worry, Elvira might not always be so nasty. I'm glad you've been noticing the character development in Sirius, hopefully you will notice Aurelia's soon too, although she's a bit more of a late bloomer than he. Good news about Rob as well, he'll be showing up extremely soon...

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: The Edge of the Precipice**

Sirius tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for all the students to trickle into the Great Hall so that the ball could commence. The long house tables had been split into smaller ones that could seat around eight people at a time, and were lined up around the edges of the room so that the dance floor could be at the centre. The hall was decorated as it always was for the annual Halloween balls, with floating pumpkins and a sea of candles floating amongst them; each table had a large autumnal centrepiece that had delicate spider webs draped over it. It was a nice effect, Sirius thought; he'd miss Hogwarts next year.

"I think you look absolutely stunning Mary, don't you agree Sirius?" Lily was staring at him pointedly, he must've missed something.

"Uh yeah, yeah of course." He said hastily, unsure of what he was agreeing to. James had to cough to cover his laughter while Remus and Peter bit their cheeks to hide their mirth. Luckily though, Mary was pleased enough by Sirius' agreement to not notice. She did look nice in fairness, he wasn't lying. She wore a long silky black dress with a high thigh split, perhaps a little sexy for a ball but being a muggleborn she wasn't to know these things.

He shook his head quickly, since when did he have such elitist thoughts?

After making a few choice grunts and nods, the girls were satisfied enough by his contribution to their conversation and he allowed himself to go back to staring at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Around five minutes later, the Slytherin sixth and seventh years entered the hall in their pairs, looking distinctly more elegant than many of the other students. He watched his brother enter with his date, a Slytherin fifth year that he knew to be Evangeline Carlson; he rolled his eyes as she laughed particularly enthusiastically at one of his jokes, Regulus had that affect on women. He gestured towards a table and him and his date began to approach it, making room for Evan Rosier and…Aurelia. Finally.

Sirius' mouth dropped open slightly as he took in her appearance. The dress looked stunning on her, it clung perfectly to her chest and waist but the flowing fabric allowed her to move with ease and remain perfectly elegant. He knew he was staring but he couldn't help it, she was glowing.

"Ucgh," Alice Prewett grumbled, leaning against their table with a glass of punch in hand and startling Sirius away his musings. "How does Avery get her hair so nice? I've never seen something so shiny in my life, it's not fair!"

The rest of their table cast their eyes over to where Aurelia and Evan were now making their way to the other Slytherin occupied tables.

"Oh I don't know," Mary chimed in, "she probably uses Essence of Elf Sweat and Tears or something like that." To Sirius' annoyance the other girls laughed, though he couldn't really say anything to stop them without raising suspicion.

"Have you ever seen someone look so smug?" Lily snorted, nodding towards Evan.

"Who do you mean?" Alice asked, twisting around to look back at the Slytherins.

"Rosier," Mary answered for her, "look at him parading his new show pony around."

They laughed again and Sirius' fists curled angily but before he could say anything Lily had turned her attention back to James, who choked on his drink, temporarily distracting the rest of the group.

"Don't blame him to be honest!" Peter piped up after Lily had cleaned up the blushing James with her wand; they all looked at him in confusion, so he continued, "I mean I've always said Avery is hot but tonight I've got to say she's looking especially bangable."

"Ew Peter, that's disgusting!" Mary snapped as the other girls all wrinkled their noses at his comment.

Sirius however, was too occupied by watching Aurelia to pay any attention. He could see the striking blue of her eyes even from this distance; they were moving around the hall methodically, apparently searching for something. Then, causing a painful jolt in his stomach, her eyes fell upon him. The corners of her mouth lifted up into a luminous smile – she'd got his note then. He smiled back casually and nodded at her, a gesture she acknowledged with a slight bow of the head in return before she moved her attentions back to her friends.

* * *

Aurelia examined the assortment of beverages before her, feeling a little disappointed that the alcoholic ones were only accessible to the teachers; she was always allowed wine or such like at societal balls, trust Dumbledore to be a prude.

"I think that one's your best bet if you're after something with a bit of a kick." A familiar voice said behind her, she turned to smile at Primrose Jorkins. The Ravenclaw was nothing like her older and extremely gossipy sister, Bertha; Primrose was rather shy, had tight curly brown hair and lovely big chocolate brown eyes. Aurelia had been forced to work with her in Herbology when the professor partnered them together in second year, and they'd worked together ever since.

"How do you know that?" Aurelia enquired with a grin, helping herself to an extra large glass of questionably pink punch.

"I saw those lot spiking it earlier." She jerked her head in the direction of the Marauders, who were sitting at the table behind her, taking a break from the dancing.

"Ah," Aurelia laughed and took a healthy swig of the juice, only to cough in repulsion. "They've spiked it alright, it's vile!"

"Oh yeah, sorry, probably should have warned you." Primrose grinned wickedly and pushed her glasses back up her speckled nose. "I love your dress by the way!" She added as she plucked a section of the skirt into the air so she could watch it float back to the ground.

"Thanks," Aurelia smiled, "it was a gift."

"From who?" Primrose asked, repeating the same action as before, apparently still enchanted by the fabric.

Aurelia wondered for a moment if she should tell the truth, she certainly trusted Prim with her secrets, not that she'd ever told her anything quite so personal… A half-truth would do.

"Well I don't actually know, the note it came with wasn't signed."

"Really?" Prim asked, confused. "A secret admirer then! How very exciting! You must at least have an inkling who it was though?"

Aurelia smiled slightly, wondering if Sirius could hear them. "Not really, it was clearly just someone with more money than sense."

"Aurelia!" Prim swatted her arm in mock outrage, "you're wicked!"

"No darling," Aurelia drawled, "I'm just Slytherin."

Prim threw her head back and started laughing heartily, though it didn't last long as something or rather _someone_ caught her eye and she stopped abruptly.

"Oh hello, Regulus," she squeaked, instantly changing from a functional member of society to an embarrassed schoolgirl. She'd had a crush on Regulus since fourth year but this was probably only the third time she'd said hello to him throughout their entire school careers.

"Ladies," he acknowledged, bowing his head to them both. He turned his gaze to Aurelia. "Now, my little Lia, I don't believe we have danced enough this evening, care to join me?" He held out his hand for her to take but she just rolled her eyes at him.

"We've danced five times already, Reg." He blinked innocently as though he didn't understand her point. "Besides, the next one is an inter-house dance, McGonagall would throw a fit if she saw you dancing with one of our lot. Perhaps you should ask someone _else_." She moved her eyes pointedly in Prim's direction, who was staring at the floor ahead of her, her eyes wide and cheeks flushed.

Regulus shot her a hard stare back but gave in anyway and offered his hand to the Ravenclaw. "Of course. Uh-Primrose-is it?" She nodded quickly. "Can I interest you in a dance?"

She beamed, actually beamed, at him and took his hand. Aurelia didn't miss how Regulus' lips twitched upward slightly, he would moan about it but she knew he would enjoy their dance just as much as Prim. She watched him lead her onto the ballroom floor where they waited, poised, for the music to begin. Feeling triumphant, she took another hearty gulp of her drink, her face instantly scrunched up with disgust as she fought the urge not to spit it back out.

"Charming." A smooth voice spoke in front of her. She looked up to see Sirius smiling amusedly at her less than gracious expression.

She gulped the last bit down and failed to repress a shudder. "Did you have to make it so strong?"

Sirius chuckled. "You can blame Pete for that."

She glanced over his shoulder to see Peter looking incredibly pleased with himself while James patted him on the back enthusiastically. He stopped quickly as Lily shot him a pointed look: congratulating your friend for spiking the punch wasn't particularly Head Boy-like.

"Perhaps you'd like to dance it off?" He suggested, holding his arm out for her to take. His friends all gaped at them, Sirius hadn't taken part in any of the formal dancing, much to Mary's dismay. In fact, they had never seen him do a ballroom dance for the whole time that they'd been allowed to attend the Halloween balls over the years.

"Hmm, that depends," she said thoughtfully, "how big is your Trust Fund?" she smiled slyly and he laughed despite his friends looking repulsed behind them.

"Come on then," he said. She obliged, and slid her hand into his, pretending that she didn't notice how her entire body felt like it was going to burst into flames at the gesture. He led her into an empty space amongst the other couples and waited for the music to begin. When it did, the men bowed and women curtsied (or at least those who had been taught to do so did) and they began twirling around the dance floor in a slow waltz.

* * *

It was fair to say that almost all eyes were upon them, it was a little known fact that Sirius Black could dance, and it seemed especially odd that he would choose to do so with a Slytherin. The pair paid no notice however, for they were quite used to dancing with one another, and so glided along like it was no more taxing than a walk in the park.

"So," Sirius said after a while, "I've got more money than sense do I?"

Aurelia's eyes flickered to his; she was relieved to find no animosity in them. "Perhaps," she smirked.

He laughed. "Is that your way of thanking me?"

"No," she said slowly, rolling the word around on her tongue so that his eyes flickered over her mouth, "I was planning to thank you later. Are you going to Slughorn's after party?"

"I am now," he whispered wickedly. He watched Aurelia's carefully controlled expression waiver as her eyes sparkled.

"Sirius," she started after a while, her previous playful tone replaced with a softer one. He simply watched her patiently, a small smile enchanting his striking features. "Why did you do it?"

Sirius didn't answer for a while, he seemed rather interested in his surroundings all of a sudden. Eventually though, he brought his eyes back to the beauty before him and confessed, "well, you left the brochure in the owlery the other day and I had to go back anyway so- I don't know, I suppose I just thought it might make you happy." He shrugged like it was nothing. "You know, for old time's sake."

Again he noticed the strange twinkling in her eyes and the appeal of her lips as they wore a very pretty smile; whatever it was about her, the overall affect was incredibly enthralling.

"Well it did make me happy," she regarded him carefully from under her thick lashes. " _You_ make me happy," she whispered.

For the second time that evening, Sirius' mouth fell open though this time he managed to regain himself much more quickly.

"You know if you keep looking at me like that, I won't be able to let you go," he meant it as a joke, but was surprised when it came out rather more intensely.

Her perfect smile warmed even further, and she leant closer to him so that he could feel her breath upon his neck as she whispered, "maybe I don't want you to let go."

His heart thumped mercilessly in his chest, instinctively, he pulled her closer to him so that their bodies where practically fused together and tried to repress a smile when she sighed contentedly into his chest.

"So," he said in a would-be casual tone as the dance slowed to its end, "have you managed to get rid of Mulciber then?"

He felt her body tense ever so slightly under his arm, she looked up at him and bit her lip, an unreadable expression on her face. "No not yet."

Sirius breathed heavily out of his nose, making it known that he disapproved. "Is that because you've set a plan in motion and you're just biding your time? Or because you have no plan at all?"

Before she could answer, Mulciber himself had descended upon them and was glaring and Sirius, who still had Aurelia encased in his arms. "The latter," she whispered to him, before wriggling free quickly and eying Mulciber apprehensively.

"I think you've had enough play time Black, don't you?" Lewis sneered.

"It's only midnight, Lewis," Aurelia attempted to reason but he paid her no mind, he was too busy squaring up to Sirius who seemed all too happy to do the same.

"Back off, Mulciber." Sirius growled and took a step nearer to him, his right hand hovering over the pocket where his wand was stashed.

"You don't want to test me, Black," Lewis hissed back. Aurelia gulped but not just because of Lewis; Sirius actually looked quite scary himself, his eyes were fierce and his body rigid as he loomed over Lewis, his muscles tensed and untensed repeatedly as adrenaline pumped through his veins. She certainly hoped he would never look at her like that.

"What's going on over here?" Came Evan's drawl, it got worse when conversing with people outside of Slytherin House, as though he had something to prove. To Aurelia's horror, he was quickly joined by three more of the Slytherin boys, including Severus. The odds of a win for Sirius did not look good. She glanced around, wondering if she could get the attention of the teachers, or at least Sirius' friends but she couldn't see anyone useful.

 _Damn._

"Black seems to think he can put his foul hands on Aurelia here, I was just about to show him what happens when blood traitors step above their rank," he snarled lowly, his eyes never moving from Sirius'. It was like they were a pack of starved hyenas ready to eat their kill alive.

She needed to intervene. Now.

"Sirius!" She squeaked, hopping in between him and the other boys, her back to her housemates.

Laboriously, he allowed his gaze to drop to hers. She gave him the most apologetic look she could muster, she'd need it for what she was about to do. "You should go."

The Slytherin boys snickered rudely as Sirius flushed a deep shade of red.

"What?" He hissed, hoping beyond hope that no one picked up on the hurt in his tone. "Don't be ridiculous, Peach, I'm not leaving you with-"

"Sirius," she insisted gently, placing her hand on top of his wand arm and pushing it down slightly, "please?"

He couldn't look away, he knew they were all laughing at him, reveling in his humiliation; they all knew about his history with Aurelia, it must have been a fantastic sight for them.

"Please," she whispered, "just go."

"Fine," he growled through gritted teeth, "enjoy associating with Death Eaters." And with that he turned on his heel and walked stiffly from the hall, leaving a path behind him where students had leaped out of his way to avoid the firing line.

She stared at the place where he'd just been helplessly, she wanted so badly to follow him but the hand that had clasped around her wrist reminded her why she couldn't.

"Dance with me," Lewis hissed into her ear. It felt as though someone had drenched her in ice-cold water as he continued. "I don't like being shown up Aurelia, first Evan and now Black, anyone would think that you _like_ being punished." He flicked his tongue over her earlobe possessively, the gesture emitting a disgusting wet sound, made even worse by the accompanying words: "And since you do, you'll be warming my bed tonight."

She felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes but was determined to keep them away. She needed to be strong. "I will not," she whispered. His nails dug deep into her forearm and he leant in closer as they waited for the next dance to begin.

"You know what happens when you challenge me Aurelia," he warned. "Don't make it any harder on yourself, be compliant and I'll show you a good time." He moved his claw-like hands to her chin, tilting it upwards so that she was forced to look at his cruel smile.

Aurelia wasn't sure entirely sure what happened next, all she knew was that she was pushed violently aside to make space for someone to sink their fist into Lewis again and again and again. A second later she was hoisted to her feet and being ushered from the Great Hall. It was only when they reached the sixth floor that she processed everything.

"Reg?"

"Go to the party," he growled, his voice shaking with unspent anger. He pushed her in the direction of Slughorn's office, where the after party was already underway.

"Wait!" She span around and grabbed his right hand, examining his quickly purpling knuckles. "Reg, look at your hand! What the hell were you thinking? He'll-he'll hurt you!" Her voice had been reduced to a desperate whine and her lip trembled.

Surprisingly, Regulus laughed, an odd guttural laugh that she hadn't heard him produce before. It was cold, maybe even cruel and his eyes had darkened to match. "Don't worry, Lia, he won't touch me, he _can't_ touch me actually."

Her brows knitted together in confusion but he just smiled, this time the warm one that she was used to, and then prodded her in the direction of the party again. "Go on, go and have some fun away from Lewis."

"Aren't you coming?"

He waved his hand in front of her as explanation.

"Right," she nodded. She cupped his face in her hands and smiled as they pressed their foreheads together like they used to do when they were younger. "Be careful, won't you?"

He chuckled and placed a sweet kiss on her forehead. "You worry too much. Now go on, I'll come and get you later."

She allowed her hands to drop from his face and walked slowly towards the party, turning to look over her shoulder just before she entered to see him still standing there, making sure she made it inside.

* * *

"Reckon we're interrupting something?" James smirked, nudging Sirius' arm as they walked down the corridor towards Slughorn's office. Further down were Regulus and Aurelia, their foreheads pressed together in an unusually open gesture of affection.

"Maybe that's why he decked Mulciber," Peter sniggered.

"He did what?" Sirius hissed.

"Yeah," Lily whispered, "right after you left actually."

"Shh!" Remus silenced them just as they walked past the pair. Sirius felt his fists curling again as he saw Regulus plant a kiss on Aurelia's forehead, a low growl rumbled out of his mouth before he could control it. Remus cocked an eyebrow at him. "What's up with you tonight Pads?"

"Nothing," Sirius shook his head, "I just need a drink."

Aurelia watched Sirius down yet another glass of champagne as he stood amongst his friends, free hand stuffed in his pocket moodily. His eyes wandered across the room, clearly bored with his surroundings, until they fell upon her. She tilted her head discretely toward a quiet corner and walked over to it casually, hoping that he would get the hint.

He did. Five minutes later he approached her, jaw set and hands still stuffed into his pockets.

"What do you want, Aurelia?" He sounded just as bored as he looked. Aurelia frowned, she glanced around to be sure no one was watching before moving slightly closer so that they could converse quietly.

She examined him for a minute, his expression was completely neutral, his posture relaxed, but she knew him well enough to know that it was all an act. Not quite knowing what she could do when they were in a crowded room full of their peers, she decided to carry on as normal.

"Well I said I wanted to thank you, didn't I?"

Sirius snorted in disbelief, one of his hands running through his hair. "Are you really planning on pretending that nothing happened?"

She sighed heavily - so much for that tactic. "I was just trying to protect you, you were outnumbered!"

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes, " _I'm_ not the one that needs protecting! I assume that Regulus punching Mulciber was something to do with you? What did he do?"

"Ucgh Sirius, do we really need to talk about this? It doesn't matter, Reg is fine, I'm fine, we don't need to-"

"It _does_ matter and we _do_ need to talk about it. Merlin Lia, why do you always have to be so blind?"

"I'm not!" She hissed as venomously as she could without raising her voice. "I'm just not reckless like you, I don't look for fights where there aren't any-"

"Look for fights? Are you serious?" He took a long, steadying breath before speaking again, this time more calmly. "Just tell me what he said. Please?"

"Only if you promise not to freak out?"

"Fine, whatever, I promise!"

She bit her lip nervously, her hands ringing together. "He uh, he said that to repay him for 'showing him up' I should uh- well- he said I should warm his bed."

"He said what?" It was everything he could do to not charge out of there and hunt the bastard down himself. But when he looked at Aurelia, saw that helpless look in her eyes, he knew he had to stay. He'd be more use to her here, for tonight anyway. "Why can't you just let me take care of it?"

He felt his heart drop when she looked up, her big blue eyes were watering, so much so that he was sure tears were about to spill out. He took her hands in his and squeezed lightly until she smiled sadly.

"Because if this summer proved anything, it's that I can't just rely on the men in my life all the time – and that's not a dig at you!" She said quickly when she saw him about to interrupt. "I just think that it would be good for me to sort out my own problems for once."

Sirius didn't say anything, there wasn't anything to say really. He thought she was wrong but she was stubborn and she'd only push him away if he pressed her too hard. Instead he simply rubbed circles over her fingers soothingly; that is until his thumb swept over something cold. The promise ring.

His eyes snapped up to hers. She was watching him gently, that wonderful smile of hers playing on her lips once more. "I stumbled upon it the other day," she explained, "thought it might be nice to try it on."

"Ah," Sirius said, trying not to smile too much. She still didn't know that he'd seen the ring on a chain around her neck. "Just stumbled upon it huh?"

She nodded. She moved closer to him so that their hands were pushed up against his chest, it was as intimate as they could be at the moment. Sure, they were in a secluded corner but with all the drunk people staggering about, it wasn't impossible that they would be found.

"You know, you have excellent taste Sirius Black."

He smiled handsomely at her, his eyes moving from the ring and back to her. "I do don't I." She blushed at the insinuation but that didn't stop him. "You are incredibly beautiful, Peach."

Her blush deepened but so compelling was his stare that she couldn't look away. "Well that's another example of your good taste, the dress is-"

"Peach, stop," he breathed. Carefully he released one of her hands and brought it to her face, brushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "I wasn't just talking about tonight."

* * *

 **A/N: Please review, I really want to know what you guys think!**


	9. Chapter Nine: Compromise

**A/N:** Thanks to Aurora, HPuni101, Petite Rogue and NaomiBassWife for your reviews of the last chapter :)

Aurora - thanks for your huge review, you know how much I enjoy hearing your theories on my storylines. Funnily enough two of your theories are pretty much both correct... I'm glad that you appreciate Aurelia's position at the moment, its a shame the Guest reviewer doesn't agree with us :P

 **Regarding the end of the story** : I mentioned that it won't have a happy ending during the first chapter, but don't worry (Petite Rogue, here's looking at you) there will be plenty of happy bits in between!

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: Compromise**

"Moony!" Sirius shouted from the castle doors, Remus was already 400 yards away so Sirius had to jog to catch up. It was late November and the air had gotten so cold that he didn't mind a bit of exercise to keep him warm. "Moony, hold up?"

Remus turned around and waited patiently for his friend to reach him, he was lucky that he always set out early for Care of Magical Creatures. "What's up?"

"I need you to do something for me," Sirius said breathily.

Remus felt his stomach knot uneasily, the last time he'd done something for Sirius he'd ended up with a months worth of detentions and a rather unpleasant telling off from McGonagall. "Why do I feel the urge to bolt all of a sudden?"

Sirius grinned. "It's nothing major, don't worry your little Prefect head about it." Remus just rolled his eyes but allowed him to continue. "You have Care of Magical Creatures with Aurelia, right?"

His eyebrows raised in surprise, he studied Sirius' face – he looked exceedingly casual, as though it were a perfectly normal enquiry. "Yes," he agreed slowly, "she's my partner actually and she won't be too impressed with me if I'm late, she's still pissed that I missed last months practical because of- well, you know." It had been a full moon that day so naturally Remus had been otherwise engaged.

Sirius just waved it off. "You won't be late. Now look, can you just tell her to meet me at 10pm by the painting of fruit that's down the stairs leading to the basement?"

"By the kitchens? What for?"

"I've just got something she might find interesting." Remus looked even more intrigued by that so he just shook his head and tried to wave it off as nothing. " It doesn't matter why, just tell her? Please mate?"

He sighed, Sirius rarely looked so imploring, he was generally pretty carefree but clearly whatever it was he had to give Aurelia was important. "Fine," he conceded grudgingly and turned to leave but Sirius called out again.

"And one more thing!"

"What?"

He shuffled his feet and ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Can you just-can you just keep this between us? The others wouldn't understand, especially Prongs."

Now he was really interested. What on earth was he up to? He never kept anything from James…or so he thought.

"Even if I don't, he'll find out some other way, with the map or something," he reasoned.

"Then I'll take the map with me!" Sirius insisted. "Please mate, you know I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to."

"Hmm," Remus mumbled. He hated keeping secrets. Unfortunately for him though, he was rather good at it and Sirius was just as aware of that fact as he was. "Just this once."

A wide grin spread over Sirius' face. "Great. Cheers Moony! Gotta go, I'll see you at dinner!" And as quickly as he'd arrived, he left again, leaving a seriously baffled Remus in his wake.

* * *

Aurelia pulled her cloak around her tightly as she descended the steps to the basement. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about meeting Sirius tonight; they'd barely spoken over the last few weeks, they hadn't really had the opportunity to - so she was very surprised when Remus had passed on the message that Sirius wanted to meet her.

"Evening Peach," Sirius said pleasantly, stepping out from the shadows and holding out a hand to help her down the remaining steps, she ignored it pointedly.

"Sirius Black," she hissed, "what on earth do you think you're doing summoning me here at this hour, and through your friend as well! Did you honestly think that wise?"

"Nice to see you too," he grinned. She glared at him but to her annoyance it only served to improve his merriment. "Interesting painting this one, don't you think?" He asked casually, examining the painting as though it were a rare piece of fine art. "Such delicate brush strokes on the pear," he continued, reaching his hand out to stroke the work, as though looking wasn't good enough.

"I knew this would be a waste of bloody time- ARGH!" Within a fraction of a second, Sirius had grabbed her around the waist, put a hand over her mouth and hoisted her through the entryway that had just opened up behind the portrait. "Whaf the thell?" She shrieked, her words muffled by his hand. He released it, though the arm around her waist remained in place for a considerable amount longer before he dropped that too. "Where are we?" She asked, bemused, gawking at the room around her. "It's like the Great Hall only-"

"It's not." He finished for her. "Yeah I know, it's pretty cool right? Welcome, Aurelia Avery, to the Hogwarts kitchens!"

"Okaaaay," she said slowly, bringing her gaze back to him, "but I still have no idea why I'm here?"

Sirius waved a hand as though it were a rather trivial question and pulled her over to four long wooden tables, exactly matching those from the hall directly above them. "First of all, where do you want to sit?"

She sighed. Clearly she wasn't going to get an answer from him any time soon so she may as well join in his little game. "That one," she decided, pointing to the table nearest the huge brick fireplace on the opposite wall.

Sirius grinned. "Hufflepuff, I like it. Neutral." He winked, plucking at her Slytherin tie to make his point. She shook her head at him but allowed herself to be guided over to it nonetheless. They sat opposite one another, and were quickly approached by a house elf, who bowed so low that his nose nearly scraped the floor before offering his services. Sirius asked for some tea and pancakes, knowing that they were Aurelia's favourite and then turned back to her.

"So I suppose you're wondering why you're here?" He said calmly, folding his hands on the table top.

Aurelia rolled her eyes. "You don't say."

He smirked. "Now now, Peach, I know you get tetchy when you're hungry but no need to take it out on me."

Again, she rolled her eyes, a little growl going with it. She opened her mouth to snap a retort but just as she did, the elves placed a massive stack of pancakes in front of her and her anger instantly dissipated.

"Here," Sirius said, placing a jar in front of her, "you'll like it."

"What is it?" She asked, picking up the jar and examining its label. "Nutella? I've never heard of it?"

"No," he smiled, "you won't have. Just try it, honestly, you'll love it."

Tentatively, she opened the jar and scraped out a tiny bit of the spread on her knife before splodging it on the edge of her pancake stack. Still being cautious, she cut the section out with her knife and fork, and placed it in her mouth, chewing delicately.

"Oh my god," she moaned after the mouthful was gone, "that was incredible!" Throwing caution to the wind, she dipped her knife back into the jar and began slathering the stuff on, any pretence of delicacy completely ruined as she wolfed it down, moaning praises all the while.

It was only when she was chewing her final mouthful that she noticed that Sirius was watching her, sipping his tea and trying not to laugh.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She asked, horrified.

"I'm not hungry." He shrugged. She turned a violent shade of pink and started apologising profusely for her lack of manners. "Peach," he said firmly, "how long have we known each other? The time of me being disgusted by your eating habits has long come and gone, luckily for you I now find it somewhat endearing."

"Oh!" She squeaked, looking down at her hands. "Oh okay then!"

He couldn't help but laugh at that, she really was adorable when she didn't have her guard up.

"Anyway," he said, causing her to look back at him, "I was about to tell you why I brought you here."

"Oh yes! Go on."

He reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out what looked like a photograph. Curiosity piqued, she took it from him, a gasp escaping her lips as she surveyed it. It was a photograph alright, a very incriminating one as well.

"Is that?"

"Rob? Yes." Sirius nodded.

"And is he with?"

"A man? Yes." Sirius nodded again. "In fact if you keep looking, you'll see that the man in question happens to be Rabastan Lestrange." He offered mildly.

She looked back at the photograph, and sure enough, Rabastan Lestrange stopped kissing her cousin and looked around, as though checking if they were being watched. Aurelia couldn't help it, she threw her head back and laughed, a real, deep-bellied laugh that made Sirius' senses tingle with delight. He too started laughing, and together they continued until tears were streaming and the air in their lungs had become restricted.

Slowly, she managed to compose herself, occasionally letting out an odd chuckle here and there. "I mean that is quite a photograph, and I am very intrigued how you happened upon it, but I don't really understand why you're giving it to me?"

Sirius smiled mischievously. He took her hand over the table and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "That, my dear Peach, is your ticket to freedom."

He grinned at her triumphantly, expecting a sudden onslaught of thanks and praise but instead was met with even more confusion than before. He'd have to explain further. "You can use this against Rob to get him to agree to get Mulciber off your case!"

Aurelia's mouth formed a small 'o' as she comprehended this idea. "You're suggesting that I blackmail my cousin?" She asked warily.

"If it gets rid of that bastard Mulciber then yes, I am more than suggesting it."

She stared at him, mouth falling open and closed a few times before suddenly a huge grin exploded across her features. "Sirius!" She squealed, jumping to her feet and pulling him to his. "I can't believe it! This is genius!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. It was a gesture he could return with such ease that he felt his insides ready to explode with joy. When she pulled away, she was still regarding him with the same gleeful expression, only now it was coupled with admiration and…something else.

In a sudden urge, he leant forward and pressed a quick kiss on her lips, his heart pounding as he felt how soft they were, how plump. Slowly, he let his eyes open and meet hers, extremely relieved to find that pretty smile on her face again.

"You know," she said, pulling on his sleeve, "now seems like a great time to go for a walk, don't you think?"

"A walk?" He laughed. "Now? You know it's passed curfew, right?"

She turned back, nodding and biting her lip in a ridiculously sexy move, her eyes glinting with energy. "Yes, but you're Sirius Black. I'm sure you can find a way to not get caught."

* * *

After about half an hour of sneaking through the castle, Sirius, who had been walking slightly ahead the whole time, came to a stop in front of a manky looking tapestry. He turned and looked at Aurelia excitedly but was disappointed to find her surveying the tapestry with nothing short of disgust.

"Really? This is the best you've got?" She shook her head disappointedly. "A gross rag half way up the Astronomy Tower? Are we not even going to go all the way up?"

"Peach, Peach, Peach." Sirius folded his arms over his chest and looked down at her as a teacher might look at an ill-performing student. "Always so quick to judge! I must say I find your lack of faith in me particularly troublesome, but no bother, being the bigger man I shall swallow my pride and allow you thirty seconds to apologise."

She raised an eyebrow at him coolly. Aurelia Avery did not make a habit of apologising. She opened her mouth to retort but, in a similar fashion to earlier, Sirius lifted her right off her feet, muttered something odd to the tapestry, and walked straight through it as though it were no more solid than water.

"What the hell is this place?" Aurelia gasped. Somehow, hidden behind that thin length of tapestry was an entire room with a massive window stretching from ceiling to floor on the opposite wall. Plush cushions were spread across the floor, centred in front of the window and draped with dozens of thick blankets and throws. Aurelia looked back at Sirius who was watching her with a light smile, his deep grey eyes regarding her with more warmth than all of the levitating candles combined.

"You can apologise now."

She shook her head slowly, her eyes darkening alluringly as she retreated carefully to the window, stopping just when she knew the candlelight would illuminate her silhouette through her shirt. Sirius stared blatantly, barely able to believe his eyes. Surely this was a sign that she wanted him as much as he did her?

She turned to face the window, her rich chocolaty locks swinging down her back. He couldn't wait any more. He covered the distance between them in three long strides before wrapping one arm around her instinctively and brushing the hair from her neck with the other. She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access as his lips caressed her delicate skin, tasting her tentatively.

"Sirius?" she breathed, turning around to face him, her hands knotting into his shirt. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips parted, her eyes trained on his mouth. She dragged her gaze up to his with immense effort but he too looked so drunk off their proximity that it was all she could do not to give in and kiss him. "Should we be doing this?"

"Aurelia," he growled, sinking his fingers through her hair and tilting her head up so that their lips were mere centimetres apart. "I've waited too long for this. Don't make me stop now."

A soft noise, almost a moan, escaped her mouth – and it was all the confirmation he needed. He pressed his lips to hers for the second time that night, only this time he didn't pull away so soon. She pushed her body flush against his, her hands making their way up his chest, over his neck and into his hair, eliciting a deep throb in his groin. The intensity was building quickly, too quickly – he was going to get carried away. With one last flick of his tongue over her bottom lip, he pulled away, leaving both of them breathless and desperate for more.

Aurelia laughed softly, nuzzling her face into his neck just as she used to when they were younger. "So," she began, her voice muffled against his skin, "how long _exactly_ have you been waiting for that?"

Sirius groaned, a warm laugh of his own bubbling through his chest and out of his mouth. He pulled away slightly to place a kiss on her forehead.

"You're going to torture me forever aren't you?"

She wore a provocative smirk and brushed her lips against his as she whispered. "That's the hazard of kissing an Avery, babe." She stepped away from him just before their lips could meet properly, earning herself a string of whispered curses from Sirius. "Come on," she laughed, pulling on his arm, "you can take me back now."

* * *

The seventh year Slytherin girls were making their way down to the Three Broomsticks pub, all huddled up in hats and scarves, the chilly winter air nipping at their exposed skin. There was a general feeling of discontentment amongst the girls, for the boys in their House were increasingly leaving them out. At first Aurelia hadn't really noticed anything, the boys would often huddle together to converse about Quidditch or something of the like, but they'd started to behave differently. They would speak in hushed tones, each of them turning their heads to check for any eavesdroppers every now and then, and if anyone did get too close they would promptly have a hex thrown their way. Aurelia had been rather wrapped up in the memory of her little rendezvous with Sirius so hadn't picked up on their odd behaviour until she heard Regulus tell Severus that he was going to meet her cousin Robert in Hogsmeade. She'd been incredibly offended, firstly because Regulus was ditching her yet again and secondly because Rob hadn't even written to her to say he was coming.

"Ucgh it's just so annoying!" Aurelia grumbled, her friends nodding sympathetically. "I know Reg is basically family but I'm Rob's blood! He should have written to me first!"

"It's all very fishy, that's for sure," Florence agreed darkly.

"Ah, there they are now." Elvira pointed to the pub where they could see a group of six or seven of their housemates gathered around a table with Rob at its head. "Wow, is it just me or is Robert looking good?"

The others laughed as Aurelia's upper lip curled with disgust. "Ew, Vira, that's my cousin!"

"Oh go on, Aurelia, help her out! They'd look cute together!" Lucinda cooed.

Aurelia snorted, her mind went to the photograph that was safely tucked away in her pocket; Elvira was definitely not someone that Rob would be interested in.

"Do you think she's his type?" Florence continued.

"I'm everyone's type." Elvira said, smirking egotistically at the girls.

The other three rolled their eyes in unison, entering the pub in single file. Elvira gave a third year, who was hogging a table near the boys, a withering glare, causing her to squeak and scrabble away, knocking into Rob as she did so.

He looked up, evidently furious that his speech had been interrupted, but then his eyes fell upon Aurelia and he positioned his expression into a far more pleasant one instead.

"Ah, Cousin," he greeted, standing to greet her with a kiss on either cheek. The other people at his table watched them irritatedly but knew not to say anything about the intrusion.

"Robert," she smiled politely, "how lovely to see you. I was rather surprised when Regulus informed me of your visit, having not received your letter, but of course it simply got lost somewhere; those damn owls, can never rely on them hmm?"

Rob's eyes narrowed somewhat, he didn't like being questioned. Aurelia, however, was rather enjoying her new position of power and decided to push her luck just a little further.

"Now Robert darling, I'm awfully sorry that I didn't send your card in the post but what with your birthday only being yesterday, I rather thought that you might appreciate receiving it in person. Shall we pop outside for a mo'?"

He fixed her with a hard glare and it was all she could do not to shiver. Rob, though he looked quite similar to her, had a kind of commanding aura about him; his eyes were as icy in colour as Aurelia's but a thousand times colder. They could flicker across hers for just a second but it would be enough to let her know that she was being watched, that there would be trouble if she put a toe out of line. Robert, just like Lewis, was a keen believer in corporal punishment. It was that knowledge that caused Aurelia's heart to race as she saw a very familiar malice flash over his eyes.

"I'm sure whatever you want to talk about can wait, Aurelia." He said stiffly.

"Actually, no," Aurelia said in a sing-song voice, "no it can't." She ignored the look of horror on Regulus' face by her blatant disobedience and smiled confidently at Robert. "Shall we?" She motioned to the door. Oddly enough, and probably only due to his own curiosity, he actually followed her out of the pub and round the corner so that they were out of the wind.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" He growled, any pretence of warmth or formality completely lost.

Aurelia raised a thinly arched brow at him, she wouldn't let him get to her – not today.

"I'll cut to the chase," she said coldly, "seeing as you're so busy with those boys – and other boys, apparently."

His gaze grew, if possible, even blacker. "What?" He snapped.

"I want you to tell Lewis Mulciber that he is to leave me alone. I will not marry him, or even be forced to spend time with him from this day onwards." She raised her nose in the air and folded her arms over her chest matter-of-factly.

"And why have you suddenly discovered a distaste for him?" He asked serenely, a slight smirk on his lips. It was clear that he thought her childish, pathetic – but he would humour her for now.

"He's disgusting!" She shrieked. "He leers at me, he hurts me – he takes it upon himself to punish me for things that don't concern him, he _whipped_ me, Rob!"

"Are you quite finished?" Rob hissed, seizing her wrists and pushing her up against the cold stone behind her.

"No," she whispered, tears springing into her eyes. "He-he threatened to _rape_ me."

"Yes," her cousin said slowly, releasing her wrists and looking off thoughtfully into the distance. "Yes I have spoken with him about that, but I do believe your friend Regulus Black saw to him proficiently. I can assure you that Lewis will not threaten you like that again. Now, Lewis is an excellent match for you Aurelia; he's the heir to his family's estate, allied with our family, and I believe he will go far as a servant to the Dark Lord. You will enjoy great status as his wife so I will not have you disrupting my father's plans for you."

She wanted to shake him. Anger quickly rising through her, she felt herself growing hot as she battled with the urge to shout at him. "His blood is dirty," she spat, "his family aren't even part of the twenty-eight. There are other men-"

"Who? Rosier? Or the young Black boy-"

"Not him," Aurelia interrupted. It was now or never. "I want Sirius back."

There was a pause. A long pause in which Rob's expression slowly transitioned from angry to downright manic. He raised his hand and brought it down hard against Aurelia's cheek, so hard that he cut her and she stumbled backwards, clutching her face.

"How dare you speak of that loathsome blood traitor! I will not humour you for another instant you ungrateful whore! You will marry Lewis Mulciber, you will be obedient and bear him a boy; end of story." He began to walk away, but Aurelia, still clutching her reddening cheek cried after him.

"I know about Rabastan Lestrange!"

Like a flash, Rob wheeled around pinned Aurelia to the wall again. She didn't miss the slight glimmer of panic that had come over him though. "Don't try and deny it," she hissed, "I've got proof." She pressed the photograph into his hand and watched his eyes widen at the scene before him.

"Where did you get this?" He snarled.

Aurelia just shrugged. "I have my ways. Now Rob, I think you'll find that my bargaining position has just strengthened considerably, no?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"Well, I've already told you, haven't I?" She reminded him good-naturedly. "I want you to call off your little lap-dog, Mulciber, and then I want you to convince Sirius' family to take him back and for our engagement to be reinstated."

Rob looked at her as though she were entirely deranged. "You honestly believe that I could convince them to reclaim _him_ as their heir? The Black's will not hear of it!"

"Then find a way," Aurelia snapped. "Find a way or I will go public with that," she pointed at the photograph scrunched in Rob's left fist, "and I've got plenty more photos where that came from."

He glared at her, his teeth grinding together sickeningly. He began pacing up and down the alleyway that they were sheltered in, coming to a stop a few minutes later and turning to her, his face suddenly much calmer and yet scheming at the same time.

"There is a way," he drawled, "but it will involve a sacrifice on the traitor's part."

"Go on," Aurelia urged.

"The only way his parents would ever take him back is if he made a real commitment to our side, made it clear that he would never walk out and humiliate them again."

Aurelia nodded. "What does he have to do?"

"He'll have to take the mark."

Her hand flew to her mouth to cover the loud gasp that had just escaped it. "You want him to become a Death Eater?"

"He's a talented wizard, Aurelia. I could speak to the Dark Lord, try and convince him that Black will be an asset, that he will renounce his traitorous behaviour and commit himself to our cause. It's the only way that you will ever be able to have him without being disowned and killed yourself."

She let out a long breath, thinking fast. "Okay, so say I can convince him to take the mark, what will happen to Regulus?"

Rob's brow twitched, confused. "What about him?"

"Well, if Sirius is reinstated as the Black's heir then Regulus won't be needed, he won't have to join the Death Eaters! I think Sirius would do it if it meant he could protect his brother… Yes, that could work," she muttered, more to herself than to her cousin. "Right. I want you to promise that you'll stop trying to recruit Reg; I'm not stupid, I know you've been trying!"

The corners of Rob's mouth curled upwards, he looked almost amused. "Very well." He agreed eventually. "I shall speak with the Black's and you will do your part with the traitor. In return I shall leave Regulus be and you will destroy these images," he waved the photograph in front of her before flicking his wand at it and reducing it to nothing but a pile of ash that filtered through his fingers. "Do we have a deal?" He asked, hand outstretched.

She eyed it for a moment or two, wondering if she would regret it. But then, with a resolute nod, she shook his hand and said, "Deal."

* * *

 **Please review, I need something to cheer me up from the disgusting amount of work I have on at the moment :(**

 **P.S: If you read my other story, I'm really sorry I haven't updated it for a while, I promise I will do so as soon as I can!**


	10. Chapter Ten: Moonlight

**A/N: Big thank you to HPuni101 for inspiring me to update! Hopefully the chapter won't disappoint.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: Moonlight**

Aurelia and Sirius were working side-by-side in Transfiguration again, this time transfiguring rocks into puppies. There were mixed results across the classroom, some students had managed to create cute fluffy puppies and proceeded to play with them before transfiguring them back to rocks and starting again; whilst other students were only partly successful, resulting in the occasional shriek as a one-eyed, bald, two legged creature barked at them. The classroom therefore, was rather loud and provided Sirius the perfect opportunity to question Aurelia about why she had been ignoring him all lesson.

He watched her struggle with her rock, which had remained resolutely rock-like despite the ever frequent jabs of her wand and muttered curses. "Need a hand?" he offered light-heartedly.

She glowered at the rock, her eyes trained upon it. "Not from you," she snapped.

Sirius jerked his head backward, quite taken aback by such hostility; it had only been a few weeks since they'd shared a kiss in the room up in the Astronomy Tower after all. "Fine," he bit back, "enjoy failing!"

Her head whipped up, her eyes betraying her worry despite her best efforts to remain cool. "Do you really think I'm going to fail?!" she cried, eyes wide.

Sirius sighed. "No," he said, much more gently than before. "I just said that to get a reaction. Why've you been ignoring me?"

Aurelia's eyes narrowed. "Not nice is it, being ignored?" She turned back to her work, waving her wand at the rock again and glaring when it remained stubbornly the same.

"What are you on about?" Sirius whispered, moving closer so nobody could catch wind of their argument.

"You really don't know?" Aurelia asked exasperatedly, sending a reproachful glance his way. "I haven't seen you properly since-" she peered around, checking that no one was watching, "-since _that night_."

"Wait, what?" Sirius laughed, earning himself a sterner glare. "Peach, I told you I would be busy with Quidditch practice! James has had us practicing _every_ night after class, we've got our game with Hufflepuff in the first week back after the holidays!"

Aurelia crossed her arms moodily but raised her head so that their eyes could meet again. "Still," she grumbled, "I thought you'd at least be able to spare an hour! Or have I just got the complete wrong end of the stick here? Am I just another one of your disposable girls?"

"Peach!" Sirius urged softly, moving as close to her as he could without being obvious. "You know it's not like that!" She shot him a disbelieving look and stared ahead of her, saying nothing. He rounded the desk so that he was in her line of vision and leant in on the pretense of examining her rock. "I haven't stopped thinking about that night," he whispered. His words caused her face to soften somewhat and before long a small smile was playing on her lips.

"Me neither."

He smiled back, enjoying the shy blush that had crept its way across her cheeks. "What are you doing tonight?"

She shrugged. "Hmm I imagine I'll either be waiting for Reg to get back from one of his many dates or generally avoiding Lewis. Nothing pressing."

He laughed. "Right, well then, can you meet me by the coat of arms on the ground floor – you know, by the steps to the dungeons?"

Aurelia sighed heavily. "If I must!" and with a playful smile at Sirius, she added, "I'll look forward to it."

Sirius struggled not to grin like some lovesick halfwit and chose to cover his mouth with his hand, pretending to clear his throat. Aurelia raised an eyebrow knowingly, enjoying his sudden awkwardness.

"Okay now all jokes aside, I seriously need you to show me how to make this lump turn into a dog."

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed overenthusiastically, still feeling a bit giddy. "You need to move your wand like this," he demonstrated the gesture, motioning for her to copy him. Finally, the rock changed, though only a little bit.

"What the fuck is that?" Aurelia looked at the rock in disgust - it had sprouted a few random clumps of matted fur.

Sirius laughed heartily. "It's not _that_ bad!" he insisted.

Aurelia glanced around at the other student's puppies, however deformed. "It looks diseased," she said flatly, "and it's not even alive!"

Disguising another chortle as a sneeze, Sirius proceeded to help Aurelia, eventually managing to get her to produce a furry rock with a tail.

* * *

On the other side of the classroom, Lily and James looked on curiously, observing the dynamic between their friend and the Slytherin. "Reckon there's something going on between them?" Lily asked casually, knowing that James was so loyal to Sirius he'd be unlikely to tell her anything.

James shrugged moodily. "Not unless he's suddenly had a knock to the head."

"Why does it bother you so much?" She probed. She could understand that James didn't like Aurelia, she was a colossal bitch about ninety percent of the time, and for the other ten percent she was just cold and unreachable. But James seemed particularly hostile towards her…it was weird.

"Has Sirius ever told you what they – his family – used to do to him?"

Lily shook her head slowly, her stomach knotting uncomfortably. James continued under his breath, "well, anytime he pissed them off, which was frequently as you can imagine, his mother or his father or some other member of his family would sit him down, tie him up, and rip out one of his teeth."

"What!" Lily's hand flew to her mouth, subconsciously cradling it as she imaged the pain of having a tooth ripped out without any kind of pain killer. "But what does that have to do with Avery?" she asked after a minute.

James looked Lily in the eyes darkly. "Apparently when he became a Gryffindor they lay off him a bit, passed him off as a lost cause. Well of course that wasn't good enough for Avery over there, even more sadistic than that lowlife cousin of hers-"

"I still don't understand," Lily cut in.

James shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Right, yes, so one day in the summer holidays before fourth year, their families had gone away to some villa near a lake in Italy. Avery, Sirius, and his brother had gone to play by the lake and Avery decided it would be funny to see how many rocks she would have to strap to Regulus before he stopped floating-" Lily's eyebrows knitted together in concern, clearly predicting what would happen next, "-Sirius told her not to be so stupid obviously, but when his back was turned she pushed Regulus off of the decking and into the water, and next thing they knew Regulus was drowning. Sirius managed to jump in and save him but they'd been so loud in the process that Sirius' father had caught wind and dragged him and Avery inside.

When he asked what happened, Avery blamed the whole thing on Sirius and then watched as his dad pulled out every single one of his bottom teeth, didn't try to stop him once." James ran a hand through his hair, sucking in a breath to calm himself. "They just left him like that, bleeding and surrounded in his own sick and stuff, wouldn't let him out for days - it wasn't even his fault."

"Oh my god." Lily breathed. Though a moment or so later, her look of horror had changed to one of confusion again. "But if they just left him like that, how did he get all of his teeth back?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure when or how they did let him out, but apparently he just ordered his elf to apparate him to my house. Mum was beside herself, went to St Mungo's herself to force one of the healer's to come and sort him out! She didn't want to let him go back to his parent's house after that, tried to get Dumbledore to use his sway at the Ministry to push her adoption papers through but Sirius insisted he had to go back, if only in the summer."

"Why?"

James shrugged again. "It beats me. Those people are master manipulators though, that much is clear as day, and Avery knows exactly what to do to make him come running. She's dangerous."

Lily nodded thoughtfully, her eyes wandering back to the pair. It didn't quite add up to her; sure Avery probably was great at getting guys to do what she wanted, she had the doe eyes down pat, but Sirius wasn't stupid, he wouldn't normally allow himself to fall for that. But then again she couldn't just discount James' argument; it was becoming clear that Sirius cared for the girl more than he had previously let on and if it that story really was true, well, they'd need to keep her away from him for sure.

* * *

Aurelia had been waiting by the coat of arms for a full five minutes, and was starting to get edgy, especially as it was already an hour past curfew. Just as she was preparing to call it a night and sneak back to her dormitory, she heard a light tapping on the window beside her. She jumped, pressing a hand to her mouth to cover the tiny squeal she'd let out, and peaked through the window. There on the other side of the glass was a beaming Sirius hovering on his broomstick, his hair flapping about in the breeze.

Aurelia opened the window hurriedly. "Sirius? What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? Taking you for a ride! Now quick, get on before someone comes!"

She stared at him for a moment, her brain quickly calculating whether or not this was a good idea and decided on yes. Climbing onto the windowsill she lurched indelicately onto the front of his broom and instantly regretted it. "Its freezing!" She exclaimed through chattering teeth, rubbing her hands over her arms frantically.

"Obviously it's freezing – its December!" Sirius reasoned, pulling her close so he could wrap his cloak around the two of them. "Will it fasten?"

"Just about," Aurelia said distractedly, fiddling with the interior fastenings. Sirius rubbed her arm with his free hand, the other one still clinging to the broomstick. "Better?"

"Much." She smiled, wriggling back a bit further to get herself even cozier against Sirius' torso.

"Good." He planted a quick kiss on her cheek before kicking off heavily, sending them speeding off towards the forbidden forest. They took slightly longer to touch down at the edge of the forest than might have been expected; Sirius had taken them on a tour past the Quidditch pitch and over the black lake first, enjoying the scents of Aurelia's perfume wafting up his nostrils. When they did eventually stop, he charmed his broomstick so that it would hover behind them, and held out his hand for Aurelia. She eyed it warily.

"What if someone sees?" She whispered.

"The fact that we're out after curfew looks suspicious enough as it is, Peach, we may as well enjoy ourselves."

Before she could respond he'd taken her hand firmly in his and started off into the forest.

"Where are we going?" Aurelia asked, curious. Sirius just winked in response, raising a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet. Then, only fifty-or-so metres from the edge of the forest, he whispered, "stay here", and dashed off into the depths of the woods.

"Wait, what?" She called after him. "Sirius?" But it was no good, he'd already gone. "Not my idea of a fun evening," she muttered to herself, folding her arms across herself protectively. She never felt quite right in the forest, it was peculiar – although she couldn't see or hear anything nearby, it still always felt like she was being watched, like something was lurking just out of sight.

And then she saw it. Two yellow orbs cut through the darkness, fixed on her. Slowly, they moved closer and Aurelia began to make out the outline of an animal…a wolf. Her breath hitched in her throat, adrenaline pumping to every crevice of her body. The wolf was circling her now, a low rumbling growl ebbing out of its throat. A harsh bark broke the silence, causing Aurelia to jump so violently that her temple began to throb. With a mix of horror and excitement, Aurelia realised that the bark had not come from the wolf in front of her, but in fact from the giant black dog she had seen before in the school grounds. The wolf had now turned its attention to the dog, and the pair were circling each other predatorily. All of a sudden the dog lunged itself at the wolf, knocking it onto its back; the animals rolled over, again and again, yapping and snapping at each other, but Aurelia had studied animals enough to recognise this type of behaviour – they were playing.

A moment or so later, the dog had separated itself from the wolf and proceeded to approach Aurelia, giving her hand a friendly lick. "Hello you," she greeted, patting it gently on the head. She looked back up to see the wolf watching them, now joined by half a dozen sets of yellow eyes. "Puppies!" Aurelia shrieked happily, completely forgetting that a wild adult wolf was just metres away from her. Dropping to her knees, she tapped her lap encouragingly, beaming when all six wolf cubs bounded over at once.

"Having fun?" Sirius. He was leaning against a tree, an amused smirk complimenting the playful glint in his eyes.

"Ahh! They're so cute!" Aurelia cooed as one of the cubs attempted to climb on top of its sibling in order to get a better chance at licking her face. Sirius chuckled and moved over to them, crouching down beside Aurelia to scratch the grown wolf behind her ears. It took Aurelia a strong ten minutes of puppy-play before she really realised Sirius was there. "Wait, where did you go?" She asked quickly, turning her gaze upon him.

He nodded at the cubs surrounding Aurelia. "Where do you think?"

Aurelia grinned back at him like a child on Christmas morning. "This is so cool!"

"Thought you'd like it. Forgiven me yet?" She nodded enthusiastically, earning herself another chuckle from Sirius. They stayed there for quite a while longer before the wolf eventually signaled for her cubs to follow her and they disappeared off into the darkness. "I think that's our cue to leave as well, Peach." Sirius stood, dusted himself off and then dusted Aurelia off too. He held his hand out for her, only this time she took it without hesitation.

They walked in silence for a while, both just enjoying the others company and eventually they reached the lake again. Sirius marveled at how the moonlight shone off Aurelia's hair, her skin illuminated even in the darkness; she glanced up and smiled when she saw him looking. The action seemed to soften her entire face, that rare, genuine smile caressing her mouth. Sirius pulled her to a halt, wrapping one arm around her waist, the other pushing loose hair behind her ear softly. Slowly, he lowered his head, his eyes never leaving hers. Her chin lifted slightly, her eyes fluttered closed and then finally, their lips met. It was a long, wonderful kiss; their lips seemed to glide over one another, the hairs on Sirius' skin standing on end, blood rushing to his head. It ended just as slowly and softly as it had started and it was a while before either of them opened their eyes again. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, enjoying the relaxed smile she gave him in response.

"You cold?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as she shivered slightly.

"Just a little," she nodded.

"Here." He pulled his scarf loose from around his neck and wrapped it over hers instead. "Gryffindor suits you," he teased, but she was too happy to bother retorting and settled for a poke in the ribs instead.

"It smells lovely," she commented, tucking it inside her cloak fondly. "So, what are you doing for Christmas?" she questioned lightly, resting her head against his chest.

"I'm spending it with the Potter's, we're going to James' auntie's house in the country somewhere."

"Sounds nice," Aurelia mumbled, her voice muffled by Sirius' cloak.

"How about you?" It was a bit of a pointless question really, as Aurelia always spent Christmas with the Black's.

"I'll be with Reg for the day, hopefully Christmas Eve as well."

"Is that it? You normally stay for the whole fortnight!"

"Yeah," Aurelia sighed, "apparently Reg wants to spend some time with his latest girlfriend, but I don't buy it."

Sirius frowned. "What do you think he wants to do then?"

"Well that's the problem," Aurelia said, pulling away from Sirius enough to be able to look him in the eyes, "I don't know."

"Hmm…" Sirius' eyes focused on the ground behind Aurelia's head, his mind spinning with thoughts of what Regulus might be up to. "Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, reaching in his inner pocket for a small corner of parchment. "That reminds me, I want you to have this." He pressed the parchment into her palm and watched her unfurl it curiously. "Its my address," he explained. "I bought a flat in London."

She looked up at him, confused.

"I'm not gonna be there for most of the holidays but I want you to promise that you'll come and see me, if things get…you know…" he trailed off, dark memories flashing through his minds eye.

Aurelia studied his face for a moment, then pocketed the parchment. "I mean I'll keep it but I'm not going to use it. Besides, what if I did use it and you weren't there?"

"I will be, I promise."

"But how? You just said you're not going to be there much at all!"

Sirius just smiled, the playful glint back in his eyes. " _Magic_ , Peach."

* * *

After sleeping through the majority of the train ride home, Aurelia was awoken by Regulus shaking her shoulders gently. "Lia," he said soothingly. "Lia, we've arrived!"

"Hmm?" Aurelia mumbled. She had to blink a few times before his face came into focus. "Oh, we're here!"

Regulus laughed, pulling her upright and giving her a quick hug. "Right, I'll see you on Christmas Eve then, yeah?"

Aurelia glowered at him in response. "Oh come on, Aurelia, you can't be angry with me forever!"

She made a noise that made it quite clear that that was exactly what she intended to do. "I just don't understand why you're so happy to spend next to no time with me this year!"

To her annoyance, Regulus just laughed again and pulled her trunk down from the overhead rack. "Don't be silly," he called down the corridor, "you know I love you."

"Hmph!" She jumped down from the carriage and onto the platform, arms still crossed and face set in a frown.

Regulus turned around and grinned even wider, delighted by the sullen look on her face. "Oh come here!" He wrapped his arms around her tightly and swayed her in his arms. "We are going to have the best Christmas yet, okay?"

He pulled away just in time to see a small smile on her face, a smile she replaced with a fake frown as soon as she could. Over his shoulder, Aurelia saw Mrs Black watching them in horror, the idea of public affection enough to make her head explode.

Or any affection, for that matter.

"See you soon," Regulus said, planting a final kiss on Aurelia's cheek before hurrying off to appease his distressed mother.

Aurelia turned around to grab her trunk, but to her surprise it wasn't there. Her eyes darted around urgently and, to her dismay, rested upon a tall, sallow looking Lewis Mulciber.

"Perhaps I can help you with this?" He offered in honeyed tones.

She glared at him, annoyed with herself for feeling scared by his sudden appearance. "What do you want?"

"Now, now," he tutted patronisingly, "no need to be defensive."

"What do you want?" She repeated, her teeth gritted together.

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. He rounded the trunk so that he could stand by her side; he nodded towards the centre of the platform, where Aurelia's parents were watching them expectantly. "Shall we?" Lewis held his arm out valiantly and as her parents were watching, she took it.

"Now I don't know what you've said to Robert," Lewis said, his voice was low but every ounce of venom in his tone was easily audible, "but whatever it was won't last long. I am gaining rank in the Dark Lord's circle, and he is a just leader. If I please him, he will grant me a- favour- of sorts," he paused for effect. "And you know what I'm going to ask for, don't you?"

She gulped but managed to keep her gaze steady, defiant – they had almost reached her parents, she would be free in just a second!

"Remember Aurelia," Lewis warned quickly, smiling politely at the Avery's for show, "the longer you keep it from me, the worse it's going to be for you."

Aurelia's mouth dropped open, she couldn't help it. That disgusting, vile, loathsome, bas-

"Aurelia, darling! How was school?" Mrs Avery saved Lewis from the slap he had been about to receive, smothering Aurelia in an excessive hug that she would never have given her daughter in private.

"Goodbye, Aurelia!" Lewis sneered, waving mockingly as he walked to greet his own family.

She stared murderously at the back of his head, wishing she had the power to maim him with her eyes.

"Aurelia!" Mrs Avery hissed at her daughter, shaking her arm violently. "Where are your manners? Say goodbye to Mr Mulciber!"

Aurelia felt anger bubbling inside her but knew not to argue with her mother, at least not now anyway. "Goodbye Mulciber," she called flatly.

Merlin, it was going to be a long few weeks.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry this has taken so long but pleeeeease review! Love you all, have a wonderful weekend x**

 **Coming up: Aurelia and Sirius are on Christmas break - will she use that address he gave her?**


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